23 April. Twenty two professionals from sixteen Mongolian museums and other national heritage institutions, joined by one colleague from the History Museum of Buryatia, Russian Federation, participated in a three-week course on 'Introduction to Preventive Conservation with Focus on Textile Collections' hosted by the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, from 19 March - 6 April, 2007.  

The course was the result of a collaboration between ICCROM, UNESCO and the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts. Since 2004, under the UNESCO programme for the Preservation of Endangered Movable Cultural Properties and Museum Development, the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts has been undertaking a pilot project of national scope on the Preservation of the Cultural Assets of the Nomadic People of Mongolia.

The course has been developed as a component of that project. The purpose of the course was to build capacity in the participating professionals for prioritizing, planning, and developing sustainable preventive conservation solutions for collections in storage and in exhibition, with emphasis on textiles.

For ICCROM, the course offered an opportunity to further share and disseminate the risk management approach that is being developed in our preventive conservation programme (see Reducing risks to collections). As in all ICCROM courses, emphasis was given to critical thinking and team work, seeking to provide balance between theoretical and practical sessions.

Course objectives included strengthening participants' ability to:

• recognize the vulnerability of the objects in their collections to the various agents of deterioration;
• identify and prioritize the risks to collections in their own museum or institution;
• formulate and take action to reduce those risks on the short and long- term, using the available resources.

The course offered an inspiring venue for participants to discuss and exchange their expertise on different aspects of Mongolian and Buryat cultural heritage, to recognize the wealth of knowledge and experience amongst themselves, to learn further from each other and to build new knowledge together. Case studies on risk management, and on planning the transfer of collections between storage areas in the Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts allowed participants to practice new technical, team-working, and communication skills in a concrete institutional context, and to assess and appreciate their benefits. Study visits to the Choijin Lama Monastery Museum and to the Bogd Khaan Palace Museum provided different contexts to address issues of risk management and preventive conservation of collections in use, and as part of assemblages that include also the buildings in which they are kept. Traditional methods used for the creation and care of the rich Mongolian religious (Buddhist) heritage, and modern conservation-restoration techniques applied to cultural property were appreciated and discussed during the study visits to the Mongolian Institute of Buddhist Art, and to the Mongolian Cultural Heritage Center, respectively, where subjects like objects biography and changes in values were addressed.

Language barriers between the teaching team and participants were overcome through the use of both English and Mongolian as working languages, and through the development of a significant portion of the course written didactic materials both in English and Mongolian.

updated on: 24 November, 2007