The development of actions and policies of patrimonial preservation acquires each time more importance for the societies that are trying to preserve its cultural heritages. This work presents a multiple case study performed in the buildings of the Belgian Village, in Saint Maria, in order to identify the most important agents and mechanisms that are involved in the deterioration of these constructions, which are important for the community. The proposal was supported by the premise that only with the knowledge of the factors that take place on the constructions it would be possible to plan its maintenance. This study initiated with the revision of the concepts of conservation and restoration of the cultural heritage, by a historical retrospect, and had arrived to the plural and multifaceted definitions of those terms. Also the pathological characteristics of the constructions, their rehabilitation and problems had been studied. These made possible to describe a proper classification of agents and mechanisms of degradation. The elaborated case studies was performed by field inspection and had allowed a generalized analysis of the more frequent problems and, thus, that would be inferred about the possible involved causes in this process. The results showed that a great set of problems that happen on the buildings occur in the superficial layers in its majority. Also it could be observed that the damages originated by climatic and environmental condition do not possess dependence with some specific type of problem in its majority, what it evidences the actions of recklessness, improper interventions and lack of preventive maintenance in the constructions. ; O desenvolvimento de ações e políticas de preservação patrimonial adquire cada vez mais importância para as sociedades que buscam preservar as suas heranças, seus bens. Este trabalho apresenta um estudo de caso múltiplo, elaborado sobre as edificações da Vila Belga, de Santa Maria, para identificar os principais agentes e mecanismos envolvidos na deterioração ...