ICCROM-Sharjah Supports Arabic Translation of Heritage Texts
ICCROM-Sharjah completed translation work for a number of publications initiated in 2017. These include Restoration of Historic Buildings in Muharraq, Bahrain by Salman Al-Mahairi (Selected Reading from ICCROM-Sharjah, series 4), Jukka Jokilehto’s A History of Architectural Conservation (second edition) and 22 ICOMOS charters, including the Venice and Burra Charters. Once published, they will be an important reference for conservation practice in the Arab world. In addition, work on the publication Readings in the Conservation of Mosaics in Arabic continued, with the illustrations and copyright review and copyediting nearly complete.
Risk Management Guide Is Available in Spanish and Portuguese
ICCROM and Ibermuseos launched the Spanish and Portuguese editions of A Guide to Risk Management of Cultural Heritage, originally published in English and Arabic by ICCROM and the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI). Adapted specifically for museums, this guidebook is the first step in a fruitful collaboration between the two organizations which will provide a series of tools, documents and research for the preservation, conservation and management of cultural heritage in the Ibero-American region.
The translations were supported by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID).
Open Access Publication Examines Research Impact
In line with its commitment to promoting open access to knowledge and information, ICCROM is happy to share the Accepted Manuscript (AM) of “Enhancing research impact in heritage conservation,” an article recently published in Studies in Conservation.
The authors examine how research impact is defined, measured and generated, with a view to understanding how it can be enhanced within the heritage conservation field. The article derives from original research undertaken by ICCROM, which focused on the engagement of end-users within heritage science research and highlights how their involvement can support research relevance and impact. This highly-accessed article has been downloaded over a thousand times, demonstrating its relevance to the sector.
New Resource Kit Shares RE-ORG Method
RE-ORG is a method ICCROM and the CCI developed to help museums make improvements to existing storage facilities. Over nearly a decade, RE-ORG has been applied to more than 100 museums all over the world via hands-on workshops, mentor sessions and online training. This field-tested methodology has now been developed into RE-ORG: A Method to Organize Collections Storage, a four-part kit that walks the user through the process of transforming a museum ’s storage area while optimizing space, equipment, time and money.
ICCROM, CCI and Ibermuseos are pleased to offer this resource kit for free download in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Pioneering Resource on First Aid to Cultural Heritage Aims to Guide Crisis Response
First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis is a two-part publication created for the various actors involved in an emergency, including cultural heritage professionals. It provides a practical method and a set of reliable, ready-to-use tools for securing endangered cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. The user-friendly workflows help readers plan and implement coordinated cultural rescue and risk reduction operations that involve local communities, heritage custodians, emergency responders and humanitarians.
Written with the key guiding philosophy of ensuring an inclusive attitude and respect for diversity while at the same time interlocking humanitarian assistance with cultural heritage first aid, this resource provides an essential, ethical framework for almost any crisis context.
The First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis Handbook and Toolkit is the outcome of nearly a decade of field experience gained by ICCROM and a close partnership with the Prince Claus Fund and the Smithsonian Institution.
Publication Looks at Sheltering Methods for Archaeological Sites
Protective Shelters for Archaeological Sites, one of few publications to address the issue of protective shelters, is the product of a week-long symposium in 2013 that used the archaeological site of Herculaneum as an “open classroom.”
ICCROM’s partners in the MOSAIKON initiative, the Getty Foundation, the Getty Conservation Institute and the International Council for the Conservation of Mosaics (ICCM), worked with the British School at Rome and the Herculaneum Conservation Project to bring heritage professionals from ten Mediterranean countries together with a group of international colleagues with relevant expertise regarding shelters. The participants represented a cross-section of disciplines and a range of experiences in the conservation and management of sites with mosaics. Participants shared relevant case studies from their countries, focusing the discussion on real sites and challenges.
Emergency Evacuation Manual Now Speaks Seven Languages
Armed conflicts and natural disasters causing deliberate or collateral damage to cultural heritage are more prominent than ever. To help strengthen efforts to save collections from imminent threats, ICCROM and UNESCO joined forces to produce Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections, a practical handbook available for free download in Arabic, English, French, Georgian, Japanese, Nepali and Russian.
Built upon years of experience and real-life situations, this publication offers a field-tested, simple workflow for the emergency evacuation of valuable objects. This guide is created with a variety of users in mind, with simple language and layout intended for heritage personnel, emergency responders and civilians alike. It offers guidance on when and how to intervene to protect endangered heritage, with illustrations and charts that help readers to begin working quickly.
Sharing Conservation Decisions Offers Strategies for Participatory Decision-Making
Recent decades have witnessed a fundamental change in social values throughout the world, and this change in turn has affected how we think about and care for cultural heritage. Increasingly, heritage professionals are challenged to adopt more people-centred approaches within conservation, whereby constructive and critical dialogue between stakeholders is an essential part of the decision-making process. However, putting these approaches into practice is not so straightforward.
Sharing Conservation Decisions: Current Issues and Future Strategies examines the quest for participatory decisionmaking in cultural heritage conservation. Case studies from different countries and heritage contexts document the wide array of decisions that confront professionals in the field, challenges these decisions present, and innovative solutions that can be found by embracing a sharing approach.
All ICCROM publications are downloadable on our website at https://www.iccrom.org/resources/publications.
