Summary

• Help children develop critical awareness of the deterioration of cultural heritage;
• build conservation awareness and knowledge in school curricula;
• organize visits to a chosen monument or site in need of conservation;
• interact with experts to build knowledge of conservation issues.

Target group
Students age 7-12.

Before the project

• Plan a project outline, allowing sufficient time to arrange a visit to a conservation and/or restoration project that is underway. Include a talk with an expert if possible. Generally this project does not take very long to arrange and implement;
• choose a monument or other object that is either currently being conserved or restored, or has just been treated. Students connect well with the project when it focuses on a highly recognized iconic object, for example, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, or the leaning Tower of Pisa;
• establish links with teachers, the conservation and/or restoration experts involved, and any other relevant agencies;
• arrange a tour, prepare lectures, and develop other learning materials. All the materials should include a definition of restoration and conservation and why it is necessary in the specific case you’ve chosen to study. Include the state of the object prior to treatment, what caused it to deteriorate, details of the treatment process and its results, the time, expertise, and funds required to treat the object, and, following conservation or restoration, how the object will be protected to ensure its stability.

During the project
Study phase
Activities should address the following topics, as they will help the students to understand the context of the conservation or restoration project:

• restoration and conservation;
• the object’s historical and artistic significance;
• how the object was damaged and why the object must be restored.

Action phase
Give the students the opportunity to talk to conservation and/or restoration experts, and if possible, to see the experts at work. Ask the students to respond by creating posters, and engaging in other group activities.

Follow-up

• Ask the group to identify similar objects or buildings they might know of in similar circumstances;
• plan to do similar studies with them;
• display the student’s work.

updated on: 14 September, 2006