This image shows hands-on work carried out by participants of the Course on the Technology of Stone Conservation (SCC), held in Venice in 1997.
This course was initiated in 1976 in response to the devastating 1966 Venice floods. Organized on a biennial basis by ICCROM in collaboration with UNESCO and the local Superintendencies in Venice, and later joined by the IUAV University of Venice, it provided mid-career conservation professionals with an in-depth understanding of methodological principles and scientific standards in stone conservation, treatment methods. Participants engaged in laboratory sessions, case studies, such as preliminary surveys and elaboration of conservation plans for monuments in Venice, as well as study tours.
During the early years, ICCROM and the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro (ICR) developed technical cards on stone conservation techniques for training and didactic material, edited by Peter Rockwell with photographs by V. Starr.
This material is accessible to researchers in ICCROM Archives, together with the documents generated for the organization and implementation of the stone course, such as correspondence, programmes, hand-outs, participants’ files, professors, case-study reports and photographs.
The Stone Conservation course was organized up to 2003 and then revived in 2009 through a collaboration ICCROM and the Getty Conservation Institute. The 2009 course took place in Venice, it later moved to Rome, where it continued until 2015. In Rome, participants benefitted from ICCROM’s Library and Archives, as well its Laboratory. Practical sessions took place at the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome. In 2018, the course relocated to Mexico, being organized by ICCROM and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia / National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The most recent edition was held in 2023.
Additionally, ICCROM has also organized stone conservation capacity-building activities in other countries, such as the Regional Stone Conservation Course for Central and Western Asia in Persepolis, Iran in 1998, in collaboration with the Iranian authorities.
Stone conservation has been a key component of other ICCROM courses, including the Scientific Principles of Conservation Course (SPC) (1973-1999), the Course of Built Heritage Conservation (CBH) (2007-2023), as well as other courses on sustainable built heritage, focusing on reducing risks, increasing resilience, climate action, documentation, and more.
This highlights the importance of continued capacity building in the principles, methodologies, evolution, and development of stone conservation practices, while also fostering knowledge sharing and networking among professionals in the field.
Recently, the proceedings of the 2019 Seminar: “Criterios de conservación del patrimonio en piedra”, organized in Mexico within the framework of the ICCROM/INAH Stone Conservation Course, have been published and are available here.