Partners

• Institut National du Patrimoine, Paris (INP),  Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, France
• Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome (ICR),  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Italy
• Opificio delle Pietre Dure (OP), Florence, Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Italy
• Fondazione Centro conservazione e restauro La Venaria Reale, Italy
• ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property)

Duration: 16 October -10 November 2006

Place: Rome, Italy

Participants
Seventeen participants from Brazil, China, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany,  India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, Viet Nam shared their experience through their  involvement in workshops, case studies, site visits, seminars, and presentations; opportunities were provided to share in a variety of large and small group activities.

Aim
Cultural heritage has grown in size and diversity, as have the professions responsible for its protection and use. More than ever, there is a need to engage in a constructive and critical dialogue the various professions and stakeholders who can contribute to conservation and restoration decisions.

The main objective of this course was to improve complex conservation decisions by ensuring transparency, clarity, and the effectiveness of the process.

Course activities
During the first two weeks of the course, the participants developed their communications skills, as an aid to analyzing conservation decision-making processes. Other topics covered included the values and messages of cultural heritage, how it changes in time, and its relationship to heritage preservation. A mini-conference on 'Current Approaches and Challenges In Conservation Decision Making' was held in the Academia di San Luca in Rome in which participants presented their own experiences of conservation decision-making processes. Participants also had the opportunity to discuss and clarify the notion of 'cultural project'. This considers the 'object', its context, and the actors involved in conservation decisions. The role of international charters and guidelines and the issue of terminology in conservation were also reviewed.
Study visits: a study of the conservation of a living tradition (the Nativity Scene) was undertaken at the Istituto Centrale del Restauro, Rome and the Museo San Martino, Naples. A study tour to Naples also included a visit to Herculaneum where issues on the conservation and use of an archaeological site were discussed during a practical exercise at Villa Campolieto.

During the final two weeks, participants were introduced to different methodologies that enhance understanding of an object, its messages and its context, and aid the development of a conservation strategy. They also discussed the role of documentation, scientific analysis, techniques of decision-making, and tools for formulating different conservation options.
Study visits: the group visited Florence during the fortieth anniversary of the 1966 flood which caused such widespread damage to works of art that restoring them is today still a major activity of all conservation institutions in Florence. The group also visited Assisi and faced with problems of recovery, recomposition and restoration of the basilica and its wall paintings. Both visits provided a background to discussions on risk management in emergency situations. The course concluded with a study visit to Paris hosted by the INP (Institut National du Patrimoine. France). The visit focused on the presentation of three large-scale projects in collections´ management: the recently opened Musée du Quai Branly (ethnographic collections), the storage areas of the Musée des Arts et Métiers (science and technology collections), and the Museum d´Histoire Naturelle (natural history collections). Special emphasis was given to the main conservation decisions that were taken during these projects.

Main achievements

• Professional capacity-building: seveteen participants have increased their knowledge and skills in in the analysis of the decision-making process, with particular attention to project management, fundraising and public awareness issues; they have reinforced team work, communication and problem solving practice, focusing in particular on the consciousness of the value of cultural and professional diversity.
• Networking: the course was a favourable platform to build a network on sharing issues in conservation decision-making through the seventeen participants from ICCROM represented Member States, course lecturers, partners, and partner institutions.
• Final evaluation results: participant evaluations show high levels of satisfaction with course coordination, themes, materials, lecturers and study visits.
• Impact: teaching and other resource materials have been produced and are accessible; participants will disseminate results through articles, presentations, reports and echo seminars, aimed at colleagues and institutions in their own countries.

updated on: 16 February, 2009