21 June. From 14 – 16 June, an interdisciplinary group of professionals met at ICCROM to design a new pilot course entitled 'First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict', to be held in Rome from 17 September – 29 October 2010.

The purpose of this course is to equip professionals with knowledge and practical skills enabling them to respond effectively and ensure the protection of cultural heritage in times of conflict, as well as plan for post-war recovery. This new ICCROM initiative is based on a substantial body of research emphasizing that cultural heritage plays an important role in recovering from conflict situations and that it must be integrated into the planning of peacetime preparatory measures and post-conflict recovery strategies, including humanitarian assistance.

The design meeting was attended by representatives of Nationaal Archief, Netherlands; Ritsumeikan University, Japan; Newcastle University, United Kingdom; University of London, United Kingdom; Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (ISCR), Italy; and members of ICCROM’s Collections Unit.

Participants for the course have now been selected and will be notified shortly.

In 2005, ICCROM also organized a forum on the topic: ‘Armed Conflict and Conservation: promoting cultural heritage in post war recovery’. The resulting publication can is available for purchase from the bookshop (hard copy) through our bookshop or available for free download.

updated on: 21 June, 2010