Records and Archives

Our Mission

The mission of ICCROM’s Records and Archives is to supervise and administer the creation, organization, maintenance, retention and disposal of ICCROM records, as well as to perform archival processing (arrangement, description and housing) gaining physical and intellectual control over the records. The aim is to ensure the long-term preservation of both analogue and digital records, and provide access for study and research purposes.

Stories of Heritage and People

The Archives are the trusted custodian of the memory of ICCROM. They are essential to the good governance of the organization as they provide evidence, explanation and justification both for past actions and current decisions. The heritage that they preserve is unique and, if lost, cannot be replaced. 

Currently the Archives store over 800 linear meters of records produced by ICCROM from its inception in 1956 up to the present. These records testify:

• the activities undertaken by ICCROM all over the world, such as missions, programmes and projects for capacity building, advice, advocacy and research concerning the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide;
• the interactions with Member States, partner institutions, communities and individual professionals;
• the policymaking work of its governing bodies: General Assembly, Council, Office of the Director-General; and 
• the finance and administration of the organization.

The Archives preserve not only textual records (both analogue and digital) but also architectural drawings (around 4 500), posters, images (including over 230 000 analogue photographs), motion picture films and audiovisual recordings (over 10 000), and didactic and scientific materials, such as heritage material samples (over 5 000 from the Sample Collections of Paolo and Laura Mora, Giorgio Torraca and Rodolfo Luján-Lunsford).

Many stories of heritage and people can be discovered among these records. We hope ICCROM Archives can stimulate research and contribute to making progress in the heritage preservation field.