27 October. We are greatly saddened by the sudden death of Andrzej Tomaszewski, renowned professor of built heritage conservation and former Director of ICCROM. Born in Warsaw, Poland, Prof Tomaszewski graduated from the Warsaw University of Technology with degrees in Art History (1959) and Architecture (1962). He later continued his studies at the University of Poitiers, France, and at the School of the History of Architecture, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’. In 1969, he attended one of the first Architectural Conservation (ARC) courses organized by the Rome Centre (as ICCROM was then called).

Prof Tomaszewski’s contribution to the field, and in the development of approaches to restoration philosophy, has been immense. He was Professor and Director of the Institute of History of Architecture and Art at the Warsaw Technical University and lectured at several universities including Berlin and Mainz, Germany. He published widely on art history, architectural conservation, and training, and was member of the UNESCO National Commission of Poland and of the Polish Committees of ICOMOS and ICOM. In 1984, he founded the International Training Committee of ICOMOS (CIF) and remained honorary president.

Andrzej Tomaszewski was elected Director of ICCROM from 1988 to 1992, during a period of political and economic change on the global scene. These shifts impacted the field of cultural heritage and in consequence, ICCROM’s activities. During his directorship, Prof Tomaszewski initiated a period of transformation, from changes in the administrative and operational structure of ICCROM to the computerization of the Library and publications department. However, his main focus was on training, or rather, ‘training the trainers’. To improve collaboration between trainers and institutions, he regularly organized conferences to facilitate networks. Through his presidency of CIF, ICOMOS and ICCROM also began to work together on this matter. While Director, Prof Tomaszewski also kept close ties with the UNESCO Division of Cultural Heritage and the World Heritage Centre, and continued this collaboration throughout his career.

After retiring from ICCROM, he became Conservator-General of the Republic of Poland from 1995 to 1999. He remained an active member of many international and Polish organizations, acting as co-chair of the board of Polish-German art historians, delegate of both the Polish committee for cultural heritage in the Council of Europe and the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, and as President of the ICOMOS International Committee on Theory and Philosophy of Conservation and Restoration. He was also involved in several organizations in Italy, such as the European University Centre of Cultural Heritage in Ravello, the Centro Regionale del Recupero di Centri Storici in Reggio Calabria, and the ‘Degree & Profession’ initiative of the Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation in Florence.

On behalf of ICCROM I would like to extend my sincerest condolences to his family and colleagues from all over the world. Prof Tomaszewski will always be remembered for having a remarkable influence on the field of conservation of cultural heritage.

Mounir Bouchenaki
Director-General

updated on: 4 November, 2010