From 3–7 August 2026, participants in ICCROM's Project for African youth artisans took part in immersive, hands-on training at the Fabbrica di San Pietro, in Vatican City. This experience offered the “Transformative Craftmanship ~ Transformative Africa” participants direct exposure to centuries of craftsmanship, preservation practice and knowledge transmission.
Working alongside the Fabbrica di San Pietro’s master artisans, the young craftspeople from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kenya and Tunisia rotated through its historic workshops, gaining practical experience in mosaic making, woodworking, blacksmithing, marble preservation and carving, and decorative plasterwork, working with traditional materials and techniques used in the care of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The experience went beyond learning individual techniques. Participants were introduced to materials and artisanal practices that have been carefully preserved and passed across generations. From historic recipes and unique preservation methods to the meticulous attention to detail required when working on one of the world’s most significant heritage sites, the workshops provided a close look at the knowledge and craftsmanship that underpin the preservation of St Peter’s Basilica.
Under the guidance of the Fabbrica's highly skilled master artisans, the group also had the opportunity to put what they learned into practice, creating pieces with their own hands and strengthening their practical skills as heritage craft practitioners. The training forms part of their longer technical residency in Italy, designed to support their professional journeys by formalizing their talents and equipping them to apply and share their skills in their home countries.
The Fabbrica di San Pietro instructors witnessed the participants' commitment, technical abilities, and eagerness to learn. The participants, in turn, described the experience as inspiring and transformative, offering them an opportunity to learn from practitioners working within a living tradition of craftsmanship and preservation, while gaining new perspectives that they can carry into their own professional practice.
The week concluded with a guided visit to the Basilica of St. Peter’s and to the Vatican Necropolis and the multimedia installation “Pétros ení: Saint Peter’s Digital Experience”. Seeing these spaces first-hand allowed participants to further appreciate the historical, artistic, and spiritual context surrounding the work they had encountered in the Fabbrica workshops. It also served as a powerful reminder of the role craftsmanship plays in preserving humanity's shared cultural heritage and safeguarding its future.
The training programme brought young African craftspeople with established traditions of heritage conservation and craftsmanship in order to upskill themselves towards better employment opportunities and socio-economic growth of their communities. As the Project’s technical residency programme continues over the coming months, participants will build on the knowledge, techniques, and inspiration gained at the Fabbrica di San Pietro to further develop their own craftsmanship and prepare to share what they have learned with others. In this way, the experience at the Fabbrica di San Pietro becomes part of a wider cycle of learning and knowledge transmission hat supports the goals of the project: “Strengthening professional skills, facilitating employment opportunities and supporting sustainable development across participating African countries”.
The transformative Towards Sustainable Development in Africa: Transformative Capacity Building to Advance Craftsmanship in Cultural Heritage Conservation project is implemented by ICCROM with the generous support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI-DGCS) and in close collaboration with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).