Latin America and the Caribbean

In November 2011, the delegates of the 27th General Assembly of ICCROM supported a resolution underlining the “worldwide problem of conservation and access in museum storage.” They suggested that ICCROM engage with countries to improve the present situation. Since then, ICCROM has assisted with storage facility reorganization projects in Algeria, China, Croatia, Greece, India, New Caledonia, and...

ICCROM joined UNESCO on an Emergency Mission for the National Museum of Brazil from 13 to 23 September 2018. Experts met with Brazilian authorities and national and local actors involved with the Museum, and took part in two technical visits to the site. The aim is to help the country define what will be the next steps for recovery.

ICCROM wishes to express its solidarity and heartfelt sympathy with the Brazilian people and heritage authorities for the sad losses caused by the huge fire that ravaged the country’s 200-year-old National Museum last Sunday, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Around 90% of its invaluable collections, comprising 20 million items, are believed to have been destroyed. This calamitous event constitutes...

As the 20th International Stone Course (SC17) moves physically from Mexico City to Campeche Province in the south of the country, so it moves from the more theoretical phase towards the hands-on and implementational phase, which will characterize the second part of this training course.

The International Course on Stone Conservation, implemented by ICCROM in collaboration with Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), has just been inaugurated in Mexico City. It was due to have taken place in 2017, but due to the tragic earthquakes that struck Mexico in September of last year, the course was postponed until March 2018.

ICCROM and the Ibermuseos Program are launching the Spanish and Portuguese adaptation of A Guide to Risk Management of Cultural Heritage, originally published in English and Arabic by ICCROM and the Canadian Conservation Institute. Adapted specifically for museums, this new guidebook is the first step in a fruitful collaboration between the two organizations which will provide a series of tools...

In August and September 2017, meetings took place in Argentina related to the preservation of contemporary art and to sound and image conservation. These activities support both the regional LATAM initiative for conservation of heritage in Latin America and the SOIMA programme for Sound and Image Collections Conservation promoted by ICCROM.

In Buenos Aires, the Museo del Cine – a small and relatively unknown museum – is working valiantly to save some of Latin America’s most valuable creative heritage. Dedicated to Argentina’s cinematographic history, the bulk of the collection currently consists of tens of thousands of film reels and video cassettes that are disintegrating and fading into obsolescence.

In the wake of the severe 7.1 earthquake that struck Central Mexico in the afternoon of 19 September bringing terrible loss of life, ICCROM stands with the people of that nation and with all our colleagues in the professional community responsible for protecting heritage, the memory of the people and the foundation of its future.

The aim of the LATAM Newsletter is to give the opportunity to conservation professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean to share their research and professional experiences throughout the region using the LATAM network.