12 November. Under the patronage of H.H. Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah, the course on Conservation and Management of Heritage: Sites and Museum Collections began on 11 November. It will continue for four weeks in Sharjah, UAE, and will end with a final week in Doha, Qatar on 13 December.

The five-week course is organized by the ATHAR Regional Conservation Centre in Sharjah in partnership with the Government of Sharjah (Sharjah Department of Culture and Information, Sharjah Museums Department, American University of Sharjah and the University of Sharjah) and University College London, Qatar (UCL-Qatar), with the support of the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).

As part of the ATHAR programme's activities, this course aims at establishing and developing professional qualifications and building capacity in the Arab region regarding conservation and management of sites and museum collections. Participants come from more than 15 Arab countries, and over 20 international and regional experts of archeology, architecture, planning and museum management will act as resource persons.

By the end of the course, participants will have acquired a critical approach to the conservation of heritage sites by understanding conservation in the context of broader heritage management issues such as tourism, site presentation and development pressures. The course will also help participants in assessing conditions of the different types of materials in historic buildings and museum collections; and developing strategies for achieving appropriate conditions for heritage materials and collections.

The course consists of five units in which several topics will be explored, including an introduction to regional and international protection methods and doctrines, documentation and risk management, material deterioration and preventive conservation, heritage management, as well as seminars and study visits to significant archeological sites and museums in the UAE.

This intensive course is the fourth of its kind since the inception of the ATHAR programme in 2004, and has become one of the flagships of the ATHAR Centre. This event is more than a simple course; it is a meeting point of knowledge and a think tank of experts and participants who will work together for a better future of cultural heritage in the Arab world.

Member States represented: Bahrain, Canada, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Qatar, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Yemen

updated on: 28 November, 2012