cultural heritage conservation education

Conservation Lab

Room Number: Fowler A410  Lab Manager: William Shelley Alumni: https://conservation.ucla.edu/people/alumni/

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Learn more at https://conservation.ucla.edu/ and https://mellondiversityconservation.org/

Mailing address:

A210 Fowler Building Box 951510 University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90095

[email protected]

The UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage  is recognized nationally and across the globe as a leading education and research program with a unique specialization. It is the only graduate-level academic conservation program in the Western United States and the only national program with a sole focus on archaeological and cultural materials. The three-year MA degree trains students in the theory and practice of conserving cultural heritage. Since the 2019 launch of the doctoral program, the UCLA/Getty Program is one of two conservation programs in the U.S. that offer PhD degrees. The PhD degree is focused on the conservation of material culture. Students who complete the program are educated not only in the principles, science, and practice of conservation ensuring the preservation of the world’s cultural heritage, but also in leadership and problem solving to address complex issues including climate change, illicit trade, and community engagement. The Conservation Program currently accepts five MA students and three PhD students every other year. Given the rigorous application process, the quality of students is consistently high and acceptance is very competitive. The Program has graduated a total of forty-three MA students who are now leading conservation efforts for cultural heritage institutions nationally and around the world.

In addition to the two graduate degrees, the Program offers the  Andrew W. Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Education Program  that aims to increase diversity in conservation by training undergraduate students from underrepresented populations.

General Information on Training

See also News, New items, and Time-sensitive information for information on workshops, etc.

Funded by the Scholarly Communications Program of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this teaching and learning platform aims to facilitate collaboration among the Library and Archives Conservation faculty and students. The site provides online interaction opportunities, shared access to teaching materials, and links to news about conservation research and practice.

"ENCoRE is a network organisation of higher educational institutions in the field of conservation - restoration. "A main objective of ENCoRE is to promote research and education in the field of conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. "ENCoRE was founded in 1997 with the main objective to promote research and education in the field of cultural heritage, based on the directions and recommendations given in the Professional Guidelines of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers Organisation E.C.C.O. and the Document of Pavia of October 1997. Currently ENCoRE has 41 full members and 1 associate members from among the leading conservation-restoration study programmes in Europe. In addition, 26 leading institutions and organisations working in the field of cultural heritage protection and research are partners of the network."

"The European Commission welcomes the formal adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) on 23 April 2008. The way is clear now for Member States to adopt this voluntary scheme that will promote lifelong learning and mobility by making it easier to understand and compare individuals' qualifications around Europe."

"This paper outlines the main features of a possible future European Qualifications Framework (EQF). EU Heads of Government at their meeting in Brussels in March 2005 requested the creation of an EQF, thus supporting and strengthening previous recommendations (February and December 2004) made by the Ministers of Education and Training. The paper constitutes the basis on which a wide ranging consultation will take place in the period July-December 2005 of policy makers, social partners, stakeholders and experts in qualifications systems throughout Europe. "An EQF would be developed and implemented on a voluntary basis, not entailing any legal obligations. It is envisaged as a meta-framework increasing transparency and supporting mutual trust. It would thereby enable qualifications frameworks and systems at national and sectoral level to be related to each other thus facilitating the transfer and recognition of the qualifications of individual citizens."

Resources for Conservation Educators

"... a voluntary collection of courses taught by or for conservators or restorers of art and artifacts. "Course syllabus listings, which are common on the Worldwide Web, have proved to be valuable tools in several ways. For teachers, they provide information and ideas about how others have structured similar offerings. The course syllabi give practitioners a sense of the changing knowledge base, making it easier to understand what students who come to them may know. (This may, then, provide clearer direction for their own private or public education endeavors.)" The compiler is welcomes new contributions from conservation educators

"The GCI is pleased to make available didactic resources that have been produced and used in the Institute's courses, workshops and field training. These resources include outlines of teaching sessions, bibliographies, exercises, case studies, and technical notes that can be downloaded and used by conservation educators and students in the classroom and by professionals for informal, personal learning ...." Topics include Archaeological Site Protection and Management; Characterizing Materials; Conservation of Collections; Conservation of Photographic Materials; Conserving Modern Materials; Earthen Architecture Conservation"

"This outline serves as a way to continually organize the vast amount of online information about preservation in a format that can be used for teaching. We developed this format to facilitate our teaching programs both here at SI and abroad. We have used this curriculum, both in hard copy and online, to teach courses in South America and Asia. It will also be used when we host ICCROM's international course on conservation of paper-based collections. We plan also to develop a web text book on the topic. "Although using this web curriculum online in some countries has been a slow process because of local computer problems, the professionals in our courses have grasped the point that the day will come when they will be able to use this material efficiently for teaching their own staffs or students."

Training programs

International/trans-national programs.

"The conservation and preservation of cultural heritage is an interdisciplinary field requiring close cooperation between conservator-restorers, archaeologists, (art) historians, collection managers and museum curators on the one hand, and conservation scientists on the other. While the natural sciences, as well as engineering, play a critical role in the proper selection of conservation materials, methods and strategies, scientific research in conservation is often conducted by scientists who originally come from outside the cultural heritage field. These scientists thus lack the affinity with the cultural heritage and conservation fields necessary to fully understand and communicate the significance, but also the consequences of their work, to non-technical colleagues. "In order to promote the synergy between the cultural heritage field, and the natural sciences and engineering, the European Community's Marie Curie programme is funding the project EPISCON - European Ph.D. in Science for Conservation. The goal of EPISCON is to develop the first generation of "true" conservation scientists in Europe. This goal will be attained by providing education, training, and research opportunities in the field of science for the conservation of cultural heritage to young scientists. To that end, 16 three-year fellowships are being offered by ten EPISCON partners host institutions within the European Community. These fellowships include funding of an intensive six month training at the University of Bologna-Ravenna Campus (ITALY) in all aspects of the conservation of cultural heritage, followed by a two and a half year research project at one of the host institutions. The quality of the training will be recognised by the participating countries and an attempt will also be made to formally recognise the PhD by partner Universities."

"Since its establishment in 1985, the Getty Conservation Institute has been involved in education and training. During the first decade of its history, the Institute ran a regular series of courses, workshops, and meetings for conservation professionals that addressed issues related to the conservation of museum collections, archaeological sites, and historic architecture. These activities were often undertaken in partnership with other international, regional, and national entities and reflected the particular learning priorities of the countries and regions where the Institute worked. For more information, see A Brief History of the GCI's Education and Training Program. Starting in the late 1990s, the GCI increasingly placed its training efforts within its field projects. By doing so, the GCI was able to work with the same group of learners over an extended period of time and to combine classroom-based teaching and practical field experience. Examples can be found in the project Conservation of Mosaics in Situ, which included a component that focused on the training of technicians in the documentation and maintenance of archaeological mosaics in Tunisia, as well as in the Mogao Grottoes wall paintings project, which addressed the training of wall paintings conservators in China."

"The modules have been conceived for persons who are dedicated to cultural heritage preservation. You will be systematically encouraged to bring in and reflect your personal professional experience in a discerning way.

" TAPE - Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe was a project supported by the European Commission in Brussels in the framework of the Culture 2000 programme from 2005-2008, coordinated by the European Commission for Preservation and Access (ECPA). After discontinuation of the ECPA in 2008 the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) hosted the TAPE website until the end of 2010. "In order to provide continued information on the activities of this audiovisual preservation project, specifically to maintain access to the electronic publications produced by TAPE, the website in its last version was taken over by the Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Partner and Leader of Work Package Research Archives within TAPE. "The electronic TAPE publications have been listed in several published and private bibliographies. Therefore it was our foremost aim to transfer the domain "tape-online.net" from Amsterdam to Vienna, in order to keep the original links valid.

Programs in Australia

"This vocational course provides the necessary theoretical and practical background to work in the heritage industry. Study involves the research and action requirements of the heritage industry as specified by Federal and State heritage agencies with practical exercises to develop multidisciplinary skills and the capacity to work in multidisciplinary teams of professionals. Participants also become familiar with agencies commissioning heritage work and study the requirements these agencies demand of professionals working under relevant legislative framework.

The Donald Horne Institute, Faculty of Arts and Design Cultural Heritage Conservation is a global profession in high demand. It requires the knowledge and skills of a detective, an object doctor, a chemist and a historian. It deals with paper, books, paintings, machines, film, photographs and forgeries. It deals with cars and dresses, lutes and lyre-birds, aeroplanes and boomerangs, from the most revered collections in the world's great museums to small, personal and obscure family heirlooms. The course has three strands - conservation, interpretation and management. These are based in several disciplines from science, the humanities, social sciences, ethics and law. The unique structure of the course requires special training for extended periods in Australias national cultural institutions, under the guidance of master conservators. Graduates will be qualified to work as a conservator in any museum in the world.

"The course content is directed towards people who are caring and responsible for heritage collections. We hope it is useful and relevant to those working in community museums, historical societies, and with public and private collections. "Many of the exercises and recommended tasks throughout the program require you to have access to a collection or to an item that is significant to you or your community. What is the course about? "There are four key topics covered in the course, intended to provide you with information about the main causes of damage to heritage collections, and practical measures you can employ to reduce the impact of these on your collections. The topics can be easily read independently of each other and do not necessarily need to be taken in any particular order. However, aspects of The Environment: Lighting, Temperature and Relative Humidity are relevant to issues discussed in Care: Handling, Storage and Display and Bugs: Pest Management. Profession: Conservation Theory, Ethics and Practice The Environment: Lighting, Temperature and Relative Humidity Care: Handling, Storage and Display Bugs: Pest Management

Programs in Asia

Programs in thailand.

"Experts in art conservation and restoration in Thailand and Southeast Asian countries are seriously needed to preserve the nation's valuable cultural heritage. Lack of resources, manpower and training have meant that the upkeep of old temples paintings in Thailand has often been neglected, each year losing a little more lustre and integrity. And with them go part of the world history.Contents of program : Chemistry of materials, Natural Science of light, temperature and humidity, Technology in Color, Archaeology, Art History, Creative Art etc. "Graduates will apply both technical and practical skills to sow the seeds of conservation movement for national, regional, and world heritage."

Programs in the Nordic countries

Programs in denmark.

The centre is a partnership between the three Copenhagen based institutions: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), The National Museum of Denmark (NMD), School of Conservation (SoC)at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation CATS was established to Advance interdisciplinary research into museum collections: Furthering scholarly understanding and public appreciation of the collections and their long-term safekeeping through preventive and instrumental conservation-restoration. Generate a deeper understanding of methods and materials of the past: Pairing long-established art historical research of the collections with technical research and state of the art methods and equipment. Provide analytical services to other institutions: Offering the expertise of CATS staff and performing scientific analysis to external research projects. Operate in collaborative projects: Working with conservation scientists, conservators and curators in Denmark and abroad. Technical Art History: The cornerstone of CATS is technical art history; the interdisciplinary field of research between conservators, natural scientists and scholars from art historical and cultural studies. Technical art history investigates the making and meaning of art works, painting techniques and artists' materials. A main objective of the research centre is to develop new and more exact methods to diagnose, treat and preserve our art historical heritage. The exploration of numerous artistic processes aims to shed light on the complex and fascinating cartography of ageing processes within works of art—to contribute to and advance the field of technical art history.

"The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation is the name of Denmark's new creative institution of higher education. The merger between the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and the Danish Design School has been planned over a number of years, and as of early 2011, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Conservation has joined the merger project."

Programs in Finland

"EVTEK Institute of Art and Design offers study programmes under three primary headings. The degree programmes in all areas consist of 160 Finnish credits (or 240 ECTS) and take four years to complete. The Polytechnic degree is equivalent to the Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in the UK, the French Licence, the German Diplom Fachhochschule and the Dutch HBO Diploma. "Internships play an integral part in the education programmes and each degree programme has an obligatory internship period of twenty credits or twenty weeks and is included in the regular study plan. The internship period is usually divided into two periods of ten weeks each. "[The Conservation program' is sub-divided in the following five areas: conservation of easel paintings conservation of paper conservation of textiles conservation of furniture conservation of cultural historic objects conservation of cultural historic interiors

Programs in Norway

Besøksadresse Frederiksgt. 3 Åpent: Ekspedisjonen for studenter er i Blindernveien 11, kl 12.30-15 (14.30) Tlf: +47 22 84 19 00/22 85 96 34 Faks: +47 22 84 19 01/22 85 95 24 admin@iakk.uio.no Kontaktperson Fagsekret‘r, konsulent Mimi Elisabeth Koppang Blindernveien 11 U12 Tlf: +47 22 84 19 02 mimi.koppang@iakk.uio.no Fagutvalg konservering fagutvalg-kons@iakk.uio.no

"Our department is organized as part of the Institute for Archaeology, Numismatics, and History of Art. The institute includes at present the University Museum of National Antiquities, which for external reasons will be separated during 1999 and result in the Institute for Archaeology, Conservation, and History of Art. The Department for Conservation Studies is located near the Royal Gardens, on the top floor of the university's old chemistry building from the 1870s. The building also houses the teaching department for Archaeology, the museum's medieval section and library, and the museum's painting conservation studio and analytical laboratory. The museum's section for objects conservation and its laboratory are located across the courtyard. As suggested by these neighbourhoods the teaching and training is meant to take advantage of the university's existing resources in the field. "As is well known, university studies are differently structured from one country to the other. For example, the undergraduate "B.A."(cand.mag.)-degree at Oslo Faculty of the Humanities is of four years' duration (eight semesters). The composition of the humanistic "B.A."-degree reflects a generalist way of thought, encouraging widely different subjects to be put together in units varying from one to four semesters. Unlike the system in many other countries, our graduate "M.A."(cand.philol.)-degree requires at least three semesters of the "M.A." subject to be studied in the preceding "B.A." For example, one cannot take an "M.A." in art history without 1 1/2 year of basic art history in the "B.A.". The "M.A." is normally of 2 years, and may be followed by the new Ph.D.-programme (Dr.art.) of 3-4 years.3 "Thus, as a consequence of the way university studies are structured in Norway, conservation studies will comprise a lower and a higher degree. The 4-year undergraduate degree must, furthermore, adhere to the generalist tradition of the Faculty, which means that the 2 years of "pure conservation" represents the maximum proportion of one single subject to be put into a "B.A." This makes the 2 years in advance largely self-evident. Prerequisites: one semester of philosophy (compulsory introduction for all university students); two semesters of a relevant humanistic subject - art history (for painting conservators) and archaeology or ethnology (for object conservators); a high level exam in chemistry from high-school (may be taken separately); a portfolio of practical works; and a test for normal colour vision. One semester may be filled with an optional subject (e.g., arts and crafts, chemistry or physics, or a third supplementary semester of the relevant humanistic subject). Selection: Practical admission tests and a 45 minutes' interview. There were 71 applicants in 1998 for the 10 posts in the present programme. "'M.A. and Ph.D. programmes in conservation remain to be made. Due to recent budget cuts in the university sector unforeseen delays may occur in their establishment.

Programs in Sweden

Programs in north america.

See also The American Academy in Rome

"The 1999 conference of the North American graduate programs in the conservation of art and other cultural property was the twenty-fifth of these annual events. The first conference of this kind was held in 1974 at the Corning Museum of Glass, a few years after a disastrous flood damaged the museum's artifact and library collections. The five-day conference, a "Conservation Seminar on Glass and Library Materials," was organized by Dr. Robert H. Brill, the museum's research scientist. It brought together for the first time the students and faculty of the graduate training programs and conservators, curators, and other museum specialists for several days of lectures and discussions. The current programs, comprising the membership of the Association of North American Graduate Programs in the Conservation of Cultural Property (ANAGPIC), have prepared this publication to commemorate that significant occasion. "The annual student conferences of ANAGPIC have become a much-cherished tradition of the programs and are eagerly anticipated events. They foster camaraderie among the participating students that becomes the foundation of their future collegial relationships as practicing professionals. Students present lectures of the highest caliber that provide insight into the quality of the education and training offered by the program that each represents. The conferences also feature a day of talks by senior conservators and allied professionals. The talks address a selected theme of current interest in conservation, thereby providing students with a view of an important aspect of their future careers. "The following pages are intended to provide a perspective on the role that the programs, of themselves and through their graduates, have played in the remarkable development of the conservation profession over the past quarter century. In her foreword, Marigene Butler, former director of the Intermuseum Conservation Association, Oberlin College, and emeritus head conservator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, identifies contributions of the programs that have furthered the continuing evolution of conservation into a mature field. Mrs. Butler's views are based on her exceptional forty-year career in conservation, which has included supervision of the internships of many former students and graduates of ANAGPIC-member programs, as well as the internships of conservators from abroad. "The principal part of this volume is devoted to a directory of the graduates of each ANAGPIC program through the end of 1998. Insofar as they were available, a few key facts are given for each individual listed, including current employment. The latter shows that the majority of graduates are working full-time in conservation, preserving the nation's cultural patrimony."

"Now in its second decade, MIAP has established a high standard for synthesizing theory and practice. Students engage in projects that use real collections and require collaboration with working archivists. Through internships, class assignments, and participation in professional organizations, our students develop a deep understanding of the field." -Dan Streible, Director, Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) Program The Master of Arts degree program in Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) is a two-year, interdisciplinary course of study that trains future professionals to manage preservation-level collections of film, video, new media, and digital works. MIAP is situated within New York University's Department of Cinema Studies, part of the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television in the Tisch School of the Arts. MIAP provides prospective collection managers and archivists with an international, comprehensive education in the theories, methods, and practices of moving image archiving and preservation. Our curriculum includes courses on moving image conservation and preservation; collection management; metadata standards and application; copyright and legal issues; moving image curation; the cultures of museums, archives, and libraries; and the histories of cinema and television. Students are taught by leading scholars and practitioners in the field. MIAP takes full advantage of its New York City setting, giving students the opportunity to work with local archives, museums, libraries, labs, and arts organizations. Internships give students experience with multiple institutions, each having a unique organizational culture and approach to archiving and preservation. Graduates of the program have careers as preservation specialists, archivists, research scholars, and conservators in diverse organizations, including library preservation departments, regional and national archives, digital libraries, media arts organizations, museums, production entities, video distributors, and television stations. The application deadline is December 1 for admission in the following fall semester. If you are interested in applying, please explore our website and visit the Prospective Students page for application guidelines, an FAQ, and news of upcoming information sessions. If you have questions about the program, please email us at [email protected].

This major introduces students to the field of art conservation, which addresses artistic, ethical, and technical questions from an interdisciplinary perspective and combines the liberal arts and sciences to solve problems of preservation. The major also prepares students for rigorous graduate programs in art conservation. A variety of science, art history, art, and other courses prepare students to engage in internships at the Williamson Gallery, enroll in conservation courses in off-campus study programs, and build a portfolio of practical experience necessary for graduate school admissiong"

"The aim of the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program will be to provide students with a solid educational base and practical training in both archaeological and ethnographic materials; as well as an appreciation of the often complex issues relating to significance, access and use of these materials which can be very different from the criteria for conservation of fine art or historical materials. In the case of ethnographic materials especially, the program will facilitate an understanding of the multiple values that artifacts hold for indigenous populations, and will foster a sense of partnership with indigenous communities in relevant aspects of the conservation process." The partnership between UCLA and the Getty in creating this program ensures that both a major research university and an institution with a major mandate for conservation of the artistic heritage of the world are working to create a rich and vibrant conservation training opportunity. The program will help the student develop working relationships with a wide array of colleagues in the Getty Conservation Institute, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and UCLA departments of Archaeology, Anthropology, Art History, Chemistry, and Geology to name only a few." University of California Los Angeles Dr. David A. Scott Magda Yamamoto Program Representative Gillian Bailey Program Assistant A210 Fowler Box 951510 Los Angeles CA 90095-1510 310-206-8934 Fax: 310-206-4723

"UCLA's Department of Film and Television and Department of Information Studies offer the Moving Image Archive Studies program. This Master of Arts degree program, is an intensive two-year course of study, consisting of specialized seminars, directed studies, an extensive internships program, screenings, guest lectures and technical demonstrations. For more information check the website above or contact Lance Watsky, MIAS Program Coordinator, miasinfo [at] ucla.edu"

• Undergraduate
• Master's programs
• Ph.D. Program in Preservation Studies

Internship programs and Mid-career Training Programs

"This program is designed for working librarians and archivists who have preservation responsibilities but limited formal preservation education. The program includes a full week of classes in New Jersey in fall, another week in spring, and a final week in fall. The weeklong sessions include classroom instruction, some hands-on experiences, and field trips. In-between the three weeks of classes, participants conduct guided preservation planning activities for their home institutions, including conducting a preservation survey and drafting a disaster plan"

Other training opportunities in North America

"The National Preservation Institute (NPI) offers continuing education and professional training for those involved in the management, preservation, and stewardship of cultural heritage. NPI serves a broad spectrum of individuals and groups from the government and private sectors by providing seminars in historic preservation and cultural resource management. NPI was founded in 1980 as a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization."

"Preservation Field Services offers a wide variety of workshops on topics. Designed as continuing education for library and archives staff who are responsible for preservation activities, the workshops are held at locations throughout the southeast. Instruction emphasizes the cost-effectiveness of preventive preservation measures and includes lecture components as well as participatory and hands-on exercises."

"Once a year, most years, in the panhandle of Idaho, I teach a workshop about the Technology of the Medieval Book. In two weeks a person is introduced to the growing, harvesting and processing of flax, the manufacture of thread and paper; splitting oak and processing it to make wooden boards for books; manufacture of parchment and alum-tawed skin, and fore edge clasps. Each participant is expected to leave with two books. One in the limp vellum style, and the other full wooden boards with clasps."

Programs in Latin America

This degree is aimed at the conservation, restoration and research of cultural heritage made, the curriculum covers three areas: architectural, urban and archaeological, which analyzes the characteristics of the buildings and monumental sites, including: historical background, construction systems and structural proportions, urban and architectural environment, natural environment, morphology, damage, alternatives for the planning, preservation and restoration. Work practices are complemented by field where they apply the knowledge learned in the classroom. "Objective of the Master: Training teachers specialized in activities aimed at conservation and restoration of cultural property in the urban-regional aspects, architectural and archaeological sites. With an updated and innovative perspective that allows them to access, according to their interests, research, professional practice and dissemination of specialized knowledge.

"Major Objectives: "Train specialists in the field of restoration and conservation of photographs to form an academic community engaged in public and private. "Contribute to the development of conservation and restoration of photographs and the preservation of photographic collections. "Provide the professional profile that allows the graduate to delve into this area and start a solid career, creative and internationally competitive. "Establish ongoing relationships with educational programs in other countries and institutions involved in conservation. "Promote interdisciplinary work among restaurateurs, photographers, scientists and historians of photography. "Develop a conservation program of photographs that serve as models for other schools."

Programs in Europe

"This website was the official website of the Bologna Process for the period 1 July 2007 until 30 June 2010. No changes will be made from July 2010 onwards." "For up-to-date information on the Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area, please visit www.ehea.info

Programs in Austria

Programs in belgium.

After the 3-year Bachelor program, a student may continue on through a 1- or 2- year Masters program. A Ph.D. in conservation-restoration is now possible, in collaboration with University of Liége.

"Every year, IRPA/KIK offers young people an opportunity to perfect their skills by means of practical training placements in its workshops and laboratories. "As IRPA/KIK is not a teaching institution, it is unable to award diplomas. Candidates are selected based on their CVs and according to the placement openings in the various workshops and laboratories."

"Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg: SRAL was founded in 1986 to preserve the cultural heritage within the Province of Limburg (The Netherlands). Through the SRAL, the Provincial Government of Limburg supports the conservation of art objects held in state or public collections and churches within the province. Over the last 25 years SRAL has grown to become a National and International Institute with departments for the Conservation of Paintings (Panel and Canvas), Polychrome Sculpture, Paper, Contemporary Art and Historic Interiors. "The Institute also provides internship placements for recent graduates and houses the Post-Graduate training of young conservators from the University of Amsterdam in each department."

Programs in Croatia

MSc/MSc in conservation-restoration "The department offers three specialized fields: conservation-restoration of paintings and polychromed wood; stone conservation conservation-restoration; and conservation-restoration of wall paintings and mosaics. After a two-semester introduction to all specialties, followed by 8 semesters of concentrated theoretical and practical traninng in a selected specialization. For the fifth year of the student, under the mentorship guidance, produce her thesis on a chosen topic."

"The course of studies has a duration of eight semesters, with an additional semester for completion of Diploma work, following the successful completion of which students achieve the title of Graduate Restorer-Painter, or Graduate Restorer-Sculptor (Bachelor's Degree, Dipl. Rest.). The graduate programme of studies is followed by a post-graduate course, for which we are currently working on a special programme and curriculum. Under our regulations the post-graduate programme can be organized as a one-year specialist programme (Specialist), a two-year scientific programme of studies (complete with a Master of Science or Art Degree), or as a three-year programme of studies leading to a Doctor's Degree in Science (Ph.D)."

Programs in the Czech Republic

"The goal of the academic program is to prepare students for entry into the professional field of historical preservation and restoration within their chosen specialty. This is done by providing students with a thorough knowledge of the artistic and applied arts, the history of art, selected fields within the natural sciences, and of their mutual interconnection. Theoretical knowledge in the natural sciences and history of art is integrated with practical knowledge about the materials, methods and technologies of restoration within the area of specialization. Most importantly, students learn to apply this knowledge with proper regard to the interdisciplinary context. Besides the technical, scientific and artistic aspects of the curriculum, emphasis is also placed on the ethics and aesthetics of restoration, international and national historical monument care principles, relevant legislation, the economics of the field, and foreign language study. The scholastic program of the school strives to reflect the broadness and range of a college education. A special element of the curriculum is focused on development of professional discipline. Graduates of the Institute are able independently, or in cooperation with experts from other fields, to prepare an overall program for restoration and conservation, including research, diagnosis, artistic and historical assessment, restoration design and the actual restoration and conservation measures, accompanied by documentation."

Programs in Egypt

The Egyptian-Italian Center for the Conservation of Antique Photographs and Paper Heritage (EICAP) and the associated conservation laboratory have been established in Cairo, with financial support by the Cooperation Development Program of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The main objectives of this initiative are to establish correct guidelines for the conservation of antique photographs and paper heritage and, more in general, bringing to light the vast treasures of private photographic collections that are currently unknown to experts in the field and to the general public. EICAP, hosted by the Faculty of Fine Arts of Helwan University in Zamalek, Cairo, is a unique initiative for the entire Middle East and the Arab Region, especially for what concerns aspects relevant to photographic conservation and restoration. EICAP is also meant to work as a research and educational institute that will offer educational programs and certifications. The main educational program is the International Master in Conservation of Antique Photographs and Paper Heritage, organized jointly by Helwan University (Egypt) and by the University of Catania (Italy). The Master in Conservation of Antique Photographs and Paper Heritage will be held in Helwan University, Cairo. The duration of the Master Program is four semesters (two years). The academic curriculum follows the European Credit Transfer System. The Master Program is worth 120 credits (ECTS) organized in 15 courses and a Master Thesis project. More details about the proposed academic curriculum can be found by The Master Program emphasizes fundamental aspects of conservation science, including sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) applied to the conservation of old photographs and antique paper documents and manuscripts, as well as practical conservation skills, to which nearly three-quarters of the academic credits are dedicated. Instructors will be professors of Helwan and Catania universities as well as professional conservation experts (for a list of the Master course instructors), Students successfully completing the four-semester study program, including the discussion of a master thesis, will be awarded a joint Catania-Helwan Master Degree in Conservation of Antique Photographs and Paper Heritage, equivalent to a M.Sc. university degree in Egypt and a professional master degree according to the Italian and European (Bologna process) system. The maximum number of students that will be admitted to the first cycle of the International Master Course is 30 students. The minimum number is 20 students. The Master Course will not be activated if less than 20 students apply (for registration fees, deadlines and admission criteria), The courses will be held at the premises of EICAP, within the Faculty of Fine Arts of Helwan University in Zamalek, Cairo, with the possibility for students of spending up to one semester in Italy or abroad to complete the thesis project. Faculty of Fine Arts - Helwan University 4 Mohamed Thakeb St., Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt +20 02 27 35 80 98 - +20 02] 27 35 75 70 Fax: +20 02 27 35 89 10

Programs in France

Note: The MCRBC replaces the Ma�trise des Sciences et Techniques (MST) a course of study instituted at the University of Paris 1 Panth�on-Sorbonne in 1973.

Inp supplants the Institut de Formation des Restaurateurs d�Oeuvres d�Art (IFROA)

Programs in Germany

Diploma Restauratorin (FH) Diploma restorer (FH) Courses of studies Preservation and restoration of objects from wood Preservation and restoration of wandmalereien and historical architecture coloredness Preservation of stone Metal preservation

Even if the course of studies has a double name, a double study does not have to be completed here by any means. The title restoration/excavation technology refers rather to technical specializations, which are possible after the common basic study. The restoration is both of technical cultural property and of photos, films and data media as well as excavation technology. ... The strict selection—in each case to the winter semester 40 students and student (maximum 10 for each emphasis) are registered—has among other things a practical reason: Every student is provided with excellently equipped laboratories, with microscope and suitable tools. Practically, one works immediately on historical original objects. Precise observation as well as methods and techniques are learned and first experiences for the later responsible activity are collected. (Translated from the German; any mistakes are mine—wh)

Project-oriented learning: The crossdisciplinary unit of scientific, art-historical, artistic, manual and specifically restauratorischer training reflects the requirements of the professional experience. A goal is the preservation of cultural values on the basis of the material-specific and technological peculiarities of the objects. Course of studies preservation and restoration Hildesheim (diploma) with the courses of studies: Preservation and restoration of: Book and paper Calm wood objects and paintings Wood objects with improved surface Stone objects Wall painting/architecture surface

"Average period of study: 10 terms Conclusion: Diploma restorer " [T]he aim of the teaching programme is to enable students to produce conservation and restoration concepts of a high scientific quality, as well as to develop practical skills in the conservation and restoration technologies applied to damaged works of art, together with written and pictoral documentation of all examinations and restoration work performed. "This includes independent scientific research and the publication of the results. The study programme aims to develop team-working skills for the co-operative partnership required in professional practice, for instance work with natural scientists, art historians and architects. "Students also learn how to manage and organise restoration workshops and projects. After completing their studies, graduates either work freelance or are employed as conservers by museums and institutions which preserve historic monuments. "During the four-semester Grundstudium, both theoretical and practical foundation courses are taught in the conservation and restoration of paintings on canvas and wooden panels, polychrome sculptures, mural decoration and wall painting. "Practical classes in the conservation and restoration of paintings and polychrome sculptures and in historical art and craft techniques are held in the Department's studios. Practical experience of the conservation and restoration of mural decoration and wall painting is provided at architectural monuments outside the Academy. "Other subjects include the basic principles of drawing and painting, focusing on studies from nature, and historical painting techniques. Regular lectures and practical classes in academic subjects, Art History, Principles of Architecture and Anatomy for Artists, form an important part of the curriculum."

Programs in Greece

"The Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art was founded in 1985 in the Faculty of Graphic Arts and Design of TEI of Athens. It is the only [Greek] educational institution in tertiary education for the Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art. "The total number of accepted students every year is up to 90 approximately. The period of studies is 8 taught semesters (4 years). The percentage of students that give up their studies is 20%. The percentage of students that graduate is 80%. "The mean value of study duration for Section A (Conservation of Archaeological Materials) is approximately 5 years. The mean value of study duration for Section B (Conservation of Works of Art) is approximately 6 years. "It should be noted that one of the reasons for the delay of graduation of Students from Section B is that due to their big number they delay in their practical courses. "In the department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art can register: Secondary Education graduates through the system of National Exams. Tertiary Education graduates through the system of Acceptance Exams that take place once a year. The syllabus of the exams is defined by the Council of the Department and includes exams in the following subjects: Freehand drawing History of Art General Principles of Chemistry"

"Studies on the interdisciplinary field of Cultural Heritage and Science/Technology offer the great potential of a modern and balanced educational syllabus; they also produce an ideal platform for holistic approaches that are guaranteed by the creative mixing of up-to-date methodologies with archaeological science, archaeometry and cultural heritage technologies." "CultTech operates within the Peloponnese, an advanced natural and cultural environment that hosts plethora of historical, archaeological sites and monuments. A key issue for CultTech is its orientation towards hands-on research thus offering post-graduate research training and the potential of the implementation of a diploma dissertation closely related or within ongoing research projects." "The official language of the programme is English. The duration is 3 semesters (two semesters of taught courses and one for the implementation of the dissertation thesis)." "Students from the fields of archaeology, cultural heritage management, conservation, materials science and engineering are welcomed to apply." "The programme will take place in Kalamata, Greece."

Programs in Hungary

The Fine Art Branch of the Conservation Program at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts trains painting, wooden sculpture and stone sculpture conservators, while students in the Branch of Applied Arts Object Conservation can specialize in five fields (wooden objects and furniture conservation, metal and goldsmith objects conservation, paper and leather conservation, textile and leather conservation and siliceous objects conservation). The program prepares students for independent conservation, research and activities, and for producing professional documentation. Primary objectives include providing students with specialized artistic and professional training, and fostering an understanding of the multi-faceted tasks in the various fields. In addition, students also gain proficiency in the applied artistic and technological procedures. In the microscope laboratory of the department, students can conduct and evaluate scientific tests, and process information through computer imaging. This facility also supports high level theoretical and practical training and research. In the framework of graduate training, students acquire skills related to the protection of art objects and monuments, painting techniques, the study of materials, physics, chemistry, iconography, museology and the history of apparel. The part-time program offers Applied Arts Object Conservation training in cooperation with the Hungarian National Museum. The objective of the program is to train experts who are able—either independently or with the collaboration of museologists and scientific experts—to carry out and evaluate the production techniques of (and material tests on) art objects, to assess their condition, and to plan and carry out the rescue, cleaning, conservation and restoration of these objects. They also acquire the necessary competence in terms of establishing and monitoring museum environments, which serve the conservation of art objects. Graduating students of the Branch of Applied Arts Object Conservation have organized an exhibition series entitled Preserved Art Treasures since 1996. While, before 1999, these shows took place at the Museum of Applied Arts, as of 2000, they have been organized at the Hungarian National Museum. Since 2002, these degree shows have also featured the works of students from the Branch of Fine Arts Conservation Branch. A bilingual catalogue is published in conjunction with each show.

Programs in Ireland

Higher Certificate in Engineering in Furniture Design and Manufacturing (GA915) Higher Certificate in Engineering in Furniture Production (GA943) Bachelor of Science in Furniture Conservation and Restoration (GA948) Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Furniture Technology (GA_TFURN_BLF) "The formal training in furniture conservation and restoration at the Furniture College in Letterfrack is unique in Ireland. The three-year programme started in 2001, with the first group of students graduating this year." For information on the course you can contact: Henning Schulze or Angelika Rauch Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Letterfrack Campus Co. Galway Ireland +353 95 41660 Fax: +353 95 41112 henning.schulze@gmit.ie angelika.rauch@gmit.ie General information: Debbie Ruddy +353 95 41660 Fax: +353 95 41112 debbie.ruddy@gmit.ie

Programs in Italy

"The American Academy in Rome is one of the leading American overseas centers for independent study and advanced research in the fine arts and the humanities. ... In 1894, with the support of Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., William K. Vanderbilt and Henry Clay Frick, the new American School of Architecture was founded in Rome. A year later the American School of Classical Studies in Rome was formed by the Archaeological Institute of America, and in 1913, a union between the two Schools became what is now the American Academy in Rome. Through its annual Rome Prize fellowship program , Through its annual the Academy supports up to thirty individuals working in archaeology, architecture, classical studies, design arts, historic preservation and conservation, history of art, landscape architecture, literature, modern Italian studies, musical composition, post-classical humanistic studies and visual arts. Rome Prize Fellows are chosen by juries of experts who review past work and the proposed project of each applicant. While the Academy is composed of two historic "Schools," the School of Fine Arts and School of Classical Studies , it does not have a faculty, a curriculum or a student body. The artists and scholars in residence at the Academy are there to pursue their own independent projects."

"... [I]n 1996, Alinari established a photographic restoration workshop offering training courses for specialised restorers. In collaboration with the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, a specific agreement for setting up a two-year course for restorers of photographs has been drawn up. The courses will prepare restorers of images on paper, glass plates, daguerreotypes, calotypes and film. They will be held by eminent experts coming from all over the world, who will offer a theoretical, practical, historical approach, using state-of-the-art equipment and availing themselves of the advice of research chemists, teachers and experienced archivists. The latter will give specific instructions for best preserving such a wealth of precious photographic material. Together with traditional restoration a section about digital restoration of images is already in operation."

"It is a small school that takes only 30 students each year. The class is divided evenly into two groups, one which specializes in the restoration of frescoes and the other which specializes in paintings on canvas, panel and wooden sculptures. It is a three year, 3000 hour course during which two years are spent doing hands-on work in the school laboratory and five months are spent doing two internships at outside laboratories. The class attends some of the courses all together, other courses are taken separately according to the specialization (i.e. fresco students take mineralogy, painting students take xylology). It is fully accredited and supervised by the Italian Superintendent of Cultural Heritage which sends representatives from the Provinces of Brescia, Mantua and Cremona to oversee work in progress on pieces from their respective territories. "The degree earned at the end of the program is a certificate of Restoration Technician and qualifies the graduate to work either under the supervision of a fully licensed conservator or to work independently on privately owned antique works of art. All art belonging to churches and museums is government property and, legally speaking, is under the protection and supervision of the Superintendent. In order to earn a full conservator's license in Italy one must pass a very difficult and very expensive exam given in Rome. "Though the certificate at gli Istituti Santa Paola does not give full restoration license in and of itself, it is nonetheless an extremely rigorous program equal to any of the Conservation Master's programs offered in the US. The school is made by Italians, for Italians, therefore, the entire program is in Italian."

"La Cantoria is a professional school for becoming a restorer. Teaching is mainly based on practical applications of restoration techniques. Students gain the necessary experience working directly on authentic ancient material provided by museums and private collectors. Theoretical subjects as History of Art, Chemistry and Manufacturing Techniques are also teached being essential elements for a correct approach to any restoration work. Professional restorers compose the teaching staff, with a vast experience in their different fields of restoration. According to the philosophy of La Cantoria, each student has to work closely together with the teacher. Therefore the school accepts only a limited number of students. The school organises courses in restoration of ceramics, painting, wood, and metal at different levels: Basic and Advanced Academic Courses, and Specialisation Courses focus on students who intend to become professional restorers."

"The I.C.R. offers a quadrennial diploma course in art restoration which covers the following areas: Area A: Mural paintings, paintings on panels, canvas, fabrics. leather and paper, polychrome wooden sculptures, architectonic surfaces and materials; Area B: Metals, ceramic, glass, enamels, jewellery, ivory, bone, amber and objects from excavations; Area C: Mosaics, natural and artificial stone materials and stuccoes. A restorer of cultural heritage diploma is awarded at the end of the course. The admission to the course is subject to the successful participation in a competitive examination held by the Ministero per i Beni Culturali e Ambientali, details of which are published in the Official Gazette each year. The number of students admitted for each area will be stated in the announcement of competition. The total number of students admitted will not be less than eighteen. The course is both theoretical and practical.

"The Institute for Conservation and Restoration was founded in 1939 under the name Istituto Centrale del Restauro designed by Giulio Carlo Argan and Cesare Brandi, reflecting the need to set the restoration work on a scientific basis and to unify intervention methods on the works of art and archaeological finds. The teaching of restoration had been fixed since the founding of the Institute as one of the main goals to be pursued. Create a new professional restorer "scientific", released by the traditional workshop or training at institutions of art education, was one of the main objectives Argan and Brandi had put into the project of setting up the Central Institute of Restoration. The training has been pursued within the Institute with the utmost commitment and the realization that in order to preserve the cultural heritage and to preserve it from the risks it is necessary to have trained qualified professionals with passion and rigor. The training consisted of three years of study with lessons of theory and practice conducted in the scientific laboratories and restoration. Since the 40s there has been not only to an exponential growth in requests for participation to reach the peaks of 800 questions in the '90s, but in parallel has risen dramatically the level of education among the students until you have a high percentage undergraduates or postgraduates in other academic disciplines related to the restoration."

"Our School/Workshop Oro e Colore in Florence is involved in the field of restoration - of both paintings and wooden objects decorated using gold and silver leaf, coloured lacquers etc. One of our defining features is our ability to offer personalized courses of brief, medium or long duration, which makes them suitable for both beginners and professionals wanting to specialise. "This is possible due to our employment of teachers with a wealth of professional experience as restorers working for some of the most prestigious public institutions in Italy, in addition to having over 10 years teaching experience. "Our past experience with foreign students proves our courses can offer a way for students to experience a relationship with works of art not available to the ordinary tourist. "We can offer the chance to restore genuine artworks, supplied to us in many cases by the Uffizi Museum, under the supervision, naturally, of professional restorers

Oro e Colore - School/Workshop Restoration of Gilded Objects and Paintings Via Toscanella 18/r 50125 Florence-Italy +39 55 28 94 15 (phone/fax)

San Gemini Preservation Studies is a summer field school that organizes lectures, research, fieldwork, workshops and fieldtrips in the disciplines of historic preservation, restoration and conservation. It is located in Central Italy in the city of San Gemini. These programs focus on the study of architectural survey and restoration, traditional methods of painting, conservation of archaeological ceramics, and the restoration of books and works of art on paper. The field projects involve the survey and restoration of medieval buildings, the archaeological excavation in the ancient Roman city of Carsulae, as well as work on local archival material.

The curriculum covers technical restoration of cultural heritage including: Stone, decorative surfaces on architecture, paintings on wooden support and textiles, wooden artifacts, archival and library materials, parchment, paper, and photographic materials, musical instruments, such as pipe organs and violins. etc.

See also Archaeological Conservation Onsite Courses

SACI Florence Studio Art Centers International Palazzo dei Cartelloni Via SantAntonino, 11 50123 Florence, Italy +39 11 39 055 28994 Fax: +39 11 39 055 2776408 info@saci-florence.org SACI New York 50 Broad Street Suite 1617 New York, NY 10004-2372 USA (212) 248-7225 Fax: (212) 248-7222 admissions@saci-florence.edu

Among the research subjects available for doctoral candidates: Materials and technologies for cultural heritage. For 2012 one of the research topics was "Development of new nanostructured polymeric materials for cultural heritage conservation and restoration"

"The international school of doctoral studies in Materials Science & Engineering provides a comprehensive graduate education in the fundamentals of materials science and engineering /synthesis-structure-property-performance relationships. "The "dottorato di ricerca" (doctorate of research) is the highest Italian academic degree, which is equivalent to the Ph.D. "The programme of the Doctoral in Materials Science & Engineering , in English for both teaching and research activities, mainly consists in high quality research projects where students carry out their activity. "Each year about 15 students, usually awarded with a grant are accepted into the School and they are taught by a dedicated materials science and engineering faculty. Students have daily contact and dialogue with faculty members who teach them in small classes and research groups. The faculty are nationally and internationally known for thier research, publications, activities in government committees and commissions, and in professional organisations where they hold high office."

Programs in Malta

For more information see

Note: The Malta Centre for Restoration ceased operations in 2010. The following is presented only for its historical interest

"The Malta Centre for Restoration is committed to a policy of capacity-building through its teaching and research arm, the Institute for Conservation and Restoration Studies (ICRS). The institute was established by statute to promote and co-ordinate the pursuit of interdisciplinary training at professional, technical and craftsman levels in all aspects of conservation and restoration. Modelled on the concept of a teaching hospital, ICRS makes use of MCR's extensive facilities, providing courses leading to degrees conferred by the University of Malta. The Boards of Studies for the MCR's degree courses are nominated and appointed by the Senate of the University of Malta. The ICRS has 5 programme streams: Bachelor in Conservation and Restoration Studies (Honours) Bachelor in Documentation Studies (Honours) Master of Science in Conservation Science Master of Conservation in Applied Conservation Studies The Stone Heritage Skills Certificate Apart from the above the ICRS offers a short Introductory Course to Mediterranean Cultural Heritage/Preparatory Course

Programs in The Netherlands

Thee University of Amsterdam offers a full program of a two-year MA course including an additional two-year Post Graduate programme in the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. The following specialisations are offered: Book and Paper; Contemporary Art; Glass, Ceramics, Stone; Historic Interiors; Metals; Paintings; Photographic Materials; Textiles; Wood and Furniture. Entry requirements consist of at least a BA in a relevant discipline, plus additional skills and expertise.

The training program is designed around an object-based approach. Students learn to work in an interdisciplinary research environment, combining research methods from natural sciences, the humanities and learn practical skills. Under the guidance of our staff conservators from the different specialisations, students acquire a firm base of conservation ethics and learn to design and perform conservation treatments on actual museum objects from various national collections. Our studio building is located at the Museumplein in Amsterdam and also houses the research labs of the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency and the Rijksmuseum conservation studios. The training program is embedded in a professional network through close collaboration with guest teachers and specialists from various museums and conservation associated institutes from the Netherlands and abroad.

For more information please see University of Amsterdam - Conservation and Restoration

Conservation and Restoration Secretary Johannes Vermeerplein 1 1071 DV Amsterdam The Netherlands +31 20 525 503 secretariaat-C&[email protected]

Programs in Poland

"The Faculty teaches conservators who graduate with a degree of Master of Arts in Art Conservation; it also confers Doctor's and Ph.D. degrees. The graduate I course is 6 years, including the thesis year. "The Cracow Faculty of Art Conservation and Restoration is composed of the following four Departments and three Institutes: Department of Conservation of Mural Painting Department of Conservation of Easel Painting Department of Sculpture Conservation Department of Art Conservation Technology and Techniques Department of General Art Institute of Applied Physics Institute of Applied Chemistry Institute of History of Polish art and Theory of Conservation

Programs in Portugal

"The Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculty of Science and Technology, New University of Lisbon's mission is teaching and research that contributes to a better conservation and enjoyment of property, including the most valuable and ancient Portuguese cultural heritage, which needs to be preserved for future generations. "Equipped laboratories and workshops allow quality research in conservation science and its applications to the restoration. A network of national and international collaborations allows the development of exciting projects, of recognized quality, and create unique opportunities for internships and career Masters. "DCR believes that the passion for research and enthusiasm for conservation and restoration of heritage should be shared with their students. So next school year, from the second semester, students will be asked to choose a lab / workshop, to join their team to participate in the activities of day-to-day as well as the innovative projects underway. Will formulate new ideas, how to acquire and process new data, challenge / question the boundaries of common sense, things never before thought out and apply them to better conserve, restore and appreciate works of art"

Programs in Spain

"Gaia is currently one of the best private schools nationally, dedicated to the teaching of restoration and antiques. It has developed a system that allows teachers to train both professionals and people who want to come as amateurs to these activities. At the School of Conservation, Restoration and Antiques, Gaia offers two types of courses: Annual and case. All these courses can be taken independently, although the onward transmission in combination allows obtaining two degrees offered by the school: "

Programs in Switzerland

Swiss Conservation-Restoration Campus

The four partner schools of the Swiss CRC are the only institutions in Switzerland offering an education in conservation and in conservation-restoration at university-level. They established the Swiss Conservation-Restoration Campus in order to coordinate the different forms of collaboration in teaching and applied research and to build a powerful competences network at Federal level. Each institution is a centre for education and research in different fields of conservation-restoration.

Although closely associated under the national framework of the Swiss Conservation-Restoration Campus, each of the four sites profits from their cultural and linguistic location to offer a springboard for their students into a wider European context. In this way, Neuchâtel, Bern, Riggisberg and Lugano have developped fruitful didactic and research collaborations with their respective European neighbours.

The Swiss CRC partners schools:

Degree course in textile conservation/restoration

"The degree awarded upon completing the programme is a Master in Conservation-Restoration UAS , specialisation Textiles . The five-year degree course offers the qualification required by the Swiss and European professional associations in conservation-restoration for full independent professional practice in textile conservation and restoration."

Specialties: Archaeological and ethnological objects; Scientific, technical and horological objects

"The conservation objective for the preservation of cultural property. Its mission review and diagnostic analysis of cultural property and the property of the relevant documentation. The training is based on international ethics of conservation, which are intended to respect the original character of the object, its artistry, historical, scientific, spiritual or religious."

"The Swiss CRC coordinates the organization of master (sequence of modules, courses and blocks ECTS credits). Each school teaching areas defined based on the guidelines offered. The educational concept of HECR Arc based on partnership between our school "rather than academic" and heritage institutions. Collaborations are established in several ways: loans of objects in the workshops, in situ home for practical work of trainees and supervision for the implementation of dissertations."

• Digital Conservation & Restoration : Based on conservation and restoration principles, different forms of conservational documentation and methods to preserve complex digital objects, artefacts and their values will be taught. In addition to this, students will learn how to develop and evaluate digital conservation methods that follow today`s ethical and legal standards.
• Cultural Informatics & Technology : This subject provides the informatics foundation needed for the specific requirements of the conservation and restoration of digital artefacts. The curriculum is a combination of elements from different informatics areas and is continuously adapted to the ever changing requirements of the MAS PDACH, which follow the ongoing technological progress.
• Media Theory & Digital Media Culture : The teaching content draws on different fields of the humanities, including history, media theory, media science, media art history as well as media and copyright law. This subject will help students assess the cultural value of digital phenomena.

MAS Advanced Modules Section : The MAS Segment gives students the know-how necessary to properly handle and preserve digital artworks and cultural artefacts from public or private collections. It provides support with questions concerning selection and helps develop digital collecting policies, teaches preventive safeguarding measures, the supervision of digital stabilisation and preservation processes and the development of sustainable decision-making procedures for the transmission of complex digital objects, such as digital artworks and cultural artefacts

MA Conservation-Restoration

Specialties: Architecture, furnishings and furniture; Paintings and sculptures; Books, graphic and photographic; objects; Modern materials and media

"The Master's degree programme in Conservation-Restoration trains conservators and restorers who can understand art and cultural artefacts in their material, expressive and historical complexity and record them methodically, evaluate findings scientifically, and engage with them in a preventive or remedial way. The wide-ranging academic and practical training is a prerequisite for practising the profession independently. Students can specialise in one of eight areas. The Master's degree emphasises curative conservation, restoration and interventions on objects." "The objective of the Master's degree programme in Conservation-Restoration is to train conservators and restorers with a profound understanding of the material and expressive complexity of the works, surfaces, materials or media they are preserving, as well as the historical and contemporary production techniques and main degradation processes. Since the objects are usually of historical significance, mistakes have major consequences; at the same time, the objects` uniqueness often requires creative adaptations and developments of existing techniques for the task at hand. Care, attention to detail and patience are therefore key job requirements — and educational objectives — as much as innovation and an accurate assessment of the situation and one's own abilities."

Specialties: wall paintings, stone, stucco and architectural surfaces

"The course aims to train experts in knowledge, documentation and preservation of cultural heritage. Students are offered training complex and interdisciplinary able to combine science and the humanities, theoretical and operational capacity, with attention to the materials, artistic techniques, the state of conservation of the works, the degradation and the present understanding of their causes."

"The MSc in conservation and restoration offered by SUPSI within the Swiss Conservation-Restoration Campus (www.swiss-crc.ch) students specializing in the restoration of the wall paintings, stucco and stone surfaces."

Programs in the United Kingdom

See also these related resources: UKIC Training in Conservation: A Brief Guide to Full-Time Courses in the United Kingdom Training and Development Organisations in the UK and Ireland Cultural Heritage Learning Network Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation (CHNTO)

"The BSc Conservation of Objects in Museums and Archaeology is designed as a professional training in conservation practice. Conservation involves the investigation, care and preservation of cultural material. If you like the freedom and challenge of developing your own ideas and approaches within a broad framework of science, culture, art and practical - the BSc Conservation of Objects in Museums and Archaeology may well be the degree subject for you. Rarely does a university degree contain such a wide range of subject areas. At Cardiff we focus on teaching a strong academic base, which is transferred into practice via practical work on cultural objects. Study and work take place in purpose-designed conservation laboratories. Work in class and lab links theory and practice and produces conservation graduates with a wide range of educational and life skills - more so than many more traditional degree schemes."

"Cardiff's Professional Conservation Masters of Science degree provides opportunities for qualified conservators and scientists to develop their primary training in professional conservation practice and to enhance their research skills. On the one hand, the MSc Professional Conservation is designed primarily for trained conservators. Thus, the Cardiff degree is different from other conservation masters schemes which are conversion courses aimed at students with non-conservation undergraduate degrees. On the other hand, the Cardiff MSc provides science graduates with the opportunity to utilise their training and to develop their specific research skills within conservation science. "The design of the degree allows the course to satisfy both types of applicants. Core skills training is linked to a range of specialised options modules which fine-tune the degree towards conservation or conservation science. Using seminar-style teaching, the degree delivers important transferable skills, including communication techniques, public address and critical assessment, research report and essay writing; all are planned with the needs of the work place in mind."

"The masters programme in conservation practice will offer opportunities for graduates to train to become professional conservators equipped to operate in the museum and heritage sector. Alternatively, it can prepare graduates for further research and offers transferable skills in project and resource management, problem solving and communication for a wide range of careers."

"The Cardiff Masters of Science in Care of Collections provides opportunities for graduates from conservation and other disciplines to study preventive conservation and care of cultural collections. Applicants who already posses a conservation qualification can extend their original training while they study collections care. Students without a conservation qualification will acquire foundation knowledge about the structure and decay of materials and the museum environment. "The aim of the MSc is vocational. The Care of Collections MSc is a qualification directly relevant to the activities of museums, historic houses and similar institutions. Seminars, lectures and assessed work aim to combine theoretical knowledge with realistic practical applications. The course will encourage students to develop their verbal and written communication skills. In this way the qualification will contribute to a student's portfolio of experience and qualifications which will be relevant when seeing work within the heritage sector. For individuals not seeking employment in this field, the MSc provides a stimulating and unusual taught master's scheme that embodies elements of art and science and includes a wide range of transferable skills."

"The Institute offers courses in two areas of conservation: easel paintings and wall paintings. Some six members of staff, practical conservators and scientific researchers work in the two well-equipped departments, and teach approximately twenty five students each year. The courses are intensive over a three year period, and employment prospects are good within this specialised field."

"Crick Smith Conservation is uniquely linked to the University of Lincoln Conservation Unit and whilst our business operates as a commercial enterprise we also undertake, offer and promote research opportunities. All members of the Crick Smith team tutor on a range of topics including Architectural Paint Research and Analysis across a range of study programmes within the Conservation Unit at the University. We also provide supervision for students undertaking independent research or those wishing to build upon skills and qualifications as a means of their Continued Professional Development (CPD). "At present the University offers courses at graduate and post graduate level in Conservation Studies. Negotiations with English Heritage are currently in progress with a view to establishing post graduate research opportunities with Crick Smith Conservation."

"The Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation (CHNTO) is recognised by the UK Government as the strategic training organisation for the museums, galleries and heritage sector in the UK. Formerly The Museum Training Institute (MTI) , it provides advice about training and professional development. Cultural Heritage NTOs core functions are to: take the lead in developing qualifications based on national occupational standards; identify what skills are needed within the sector and how theose skills can be achieved; ensure that employers' views on education and training are heard.

Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Artefacts in Wood, Stone and Related Materials The Conservation Studies course is a three-year, full-time course leading to a BA (Hons) degree which has recently been validated by the University of Central England, Birmingham. The Conservation Studies course provides students with the necessary skills and knowledge to enable them to gain employment in an institution such as a museum, or in a private-sector workshop, and gives a good basis on which to build a future career in conservation or related areas. Many past students now hold posts in leading museums and conservation studios."

"The Hamilton Kerr Institute aims to train picture restorers to the highest standards; to ensure their understanding of the problems of picture conservation and restoration and to contribute to scientific, technical and art historical research. The Institute, a department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, provides conservation facilities for public and publicly shown collections. It was established in 1976 in response to recommendations made in 1972 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Report on training in the conservation of paintings, with the additional aid of grants from the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Monument Trust, the Baring Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust, the Isaac Wolfson Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Trust." "The Hamilton Kerr Institute is a leading centre for teaching and research in the Conservation of Fine Art. The three year Post Graduate Diploma provides a combination of academic teaching and supervised studio work. The Institute also offers internships to graduates of academic courses to gain further practical experience and an opportunity for research."

"The Diploma is a three year course in the conservation and restoration of easel paintings. The Diploma is awarded by the University of Cambridge. The course is open to students with a first degree in fine art, art history or the natural sciences. Candidates with other degrees will be considered if they can demonstrate that they have a particular aptitude for the course. After graduation, students are expected to undertake at least a further years study or internship in a conservation department in Britain or abroad. It is considered essential that students should have experience of different approaches to conservation problems.

"The Institute offers short courses on specific techniques and, space permitting, the opportunity for members of painting conservation staff employed in museum departments and elsewhere to work at the Institute on a painting with might require examination, analysis and treatment beyond the scope of facilities offered by their own institutions. Treatment of the painting would be carried out over a period of up to six months."

"The BSc (Hons) in Restoration & Conservation is a unique three-year full-time degree of long standing and high reputation specialising in the treatment of decorative wood and metal artifacts. In the final year there is a work placement, which lasts for a minimum of two months. Placement opportunities include the British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Gallery, Museum of London, Metropolitan Museum New York, in addition to the National Trust and prestigious private conservation workshops. "Our contacts with the profession and the wider conservation community are without equal and students engage in a variety of live projects such as Strawberry Hill House. London is one of the centres of conservation excellence so our location is ideal. "Conservation is a fascinating and varied profession, which uniquely combines materials' science, art history and craftsmanship. The course addresses all strands with vigour and has expert staff in all fields, many of whom are also in practice, at the forefront of the profession. "BSc students will be part of a thriving conservation community at London Met with a healthy dialogue between courses such as FDA Furniture and the MA in Conservation. Our graduates have gone on to museum conservation and curatorial departments worldwide as well as in to private practice and the heritage industry in general."

"The focus of an MA by Project is a self-originated substantial body of independent work. The research project may be practice-based, or developed as a thesis. The project may involve the development of design(s), artwork(s), craftwork(s), artifact(s), article(s), musical instrument(s), or research on existing examples of the above, or processes for the production or development of the above, submitted as a body of practical work with accompanying reflective and critical report. Alternately, the research can be written up and submitted as a dissertation. It is undertaken by proposing a project and then carrying it through within a supportive and structured framework. "The course welcomes applications concerned with the restoration or conservation of specific items, materials, processes or methods."

"This interdisciplinary programme takes an innovative approach to teaching of 'hard' science subjects by taking cultural heritage as its context. The aim is to develop a holistic understanding of state-of-the-art science among researchers and practitioners in order to develop the science leaders of the future. "Heritage science delivers intellectual access to cultural heritage by enhancing knowledge of conservation, interpretation, research and management. It offers ample opportunities to question and reflect on research in light of broader societal and environmental issues. By engaging in interdisciplinary discourse with other researchers, and with a wider diverse public, our graduates will gain the ability to engage with policy-makers. "Heritage science research questions span the sciences and the arts. Therefore, this programme has been designed to be interdisciplinary. In order to support the wide variety of activities that relate to cultural heritage: conservation, access, research, interpretation and management, our programme draws on a palette of knowledge, from fundamental sciences (chemistry, physics, mathematics, biology) to arts and humanities (conservation, philosophy, ethics, history and art history), including economics, sociology, computer sciences and engineering."

"The innovative content and delivery of the course is designed to create a new generation of heritage leaders. Equipping the specialists of today with the skills to bring together the multi-disciplinary fields of heritage, the course will be very attractive to those with an aptitude for inter-disciplinary work who wish to make a difference in the heritage field. "The course brings together all aspects of cultural heritage - historic buildings, collections, sites and landscapes combined with the best preventive conservation policies, projects, methodologies and practices. It is intended to imbue highly skilled and versatile practitioners with leadership and management qualities by bringing professionals and informed clients together in a learning environment to promote mutual understanding."

"The Hamilton Kerr Institute aims to train picture restorers to the highest standards; to ensure their understanding of the problems of picture conservation and restoration and to contribute to scientific, technical and art historical research. The Institute, a department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, provides conservation facilities for public and publicly shown collections. It was established in 1976 in response to recommendations made in 1972 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Report on training in the conservation of paintings, with the additional aid of grants from the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Monument Trust, the Baring Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust, the Isaac Wolfson Foundation and the Esmée Fairbairn Trust."

Offers MA courses in textile conservation, history of textiles and dress, country house studies, museum studies, architectural studies, material culture, as well as short courses, and research opportunities. "Textile conservation is a multi-disciplinary subject which combines academic knowledge with cultural awareness, aesthetic sensitivity and technical skill. This MA, which is both an academic programme and a professional education, offers a framework of theoretical knowledge and diversity of practical experience which enables you to contribute to the understanding and preservation of culturally significant textile artefacts. As a successor to the well established and highly regarded Postgraduate Diploma, which has an excellent employment record, it provides an ideal foundation for a variety of career paths including conservation practice, education and management, and doctoral-level research." "The MA is run by the Textile Conservation Centre, an internationally renowned centre of excellence for textile conservation research, scholarship, education and practice. Established by Karen Finch, OBE, DLitt, in 1975 and previously based at Hampton Court Palace, the Centre has trained textile conservators from all over the world as well as undertaking thousands of conservation commissions. It moved to its purpose-designed building on the Winchester School of Art campus in August 1999."

" The Textile Conservation Centre Foundation (TCCF) and the University of Glasgow have agreed to found the new teaching and research facility—the only resource of its kind in the UK—in the University's Robertson Building. Professor Nick Pearce, Director of the Institute for Art History and Head of the Department of History of Art, University of Glasgow, said: "This is a tremendous opportunity both for the University and also for the conservation profession in Scotland, the UK and internationally. Expertise, facilities and the wealth of the collections make Glasgow the ideal place for the kind of interdisciplinary research and study which the centre will promote". Peter Longman, Deputy Chairman of the Textile Conservation Centre Foundation said: "There was such concern over the closure of the Textile Conservation Centre in Winchester that over the last 18 months we have been approached by several institutions anxious to work with us to continue aspects of its work. We have considered a number of options, but the combination of Glasgow with its world class University and History of Art Department and the unrivalled collections in and around the City proved an irresistible location. "This is a unique opportunity to build on the UK's reputation in textile conservation training and related research; we look forward to contributing to its future success in Glasgow".

"Lincoln is one of the largest centres for the study of Conservation and Restoration in the UK. With over 25 years' experience in this field and offering opportunities at all levels from undergraduate study to doctoral research. "Conservation and Restoration links two areas of study—the craft practices of repair and the scientific principles of investigation and analysis. Our training is based on the understanding that students come from a range of backgrounds and need to build confidence gradually. Although we welcome previous qualification in science subjects, we recognise that many conservators are likely to come from an art-based background and not have studied science since GCSE level. Many conservation students in the past have admitted to a fear of studying science; your science tutor will take you through basic concepts and consistently explain the applied relevance of the topic under consideration. "At Lincoln, you will join a thriving community of conservation study and practice and your experience will be enhanced by the close integration with the heritage and conservation professions through contact with visiting lecturers, part-time students employed in the sector and course advisors and supporters. Conservation tutors are all accredited conservators with a wide range experience in museums, the heritage sector and private practice. A team of highly qualified technical staff support students in taught classes and all-self directed practical work. "Our programmes offer students the opportunity to work on a wide range of historic materials from museums, historic houses and private owners. Classes from the outset focus around the handling and discussion of objects from all periods from all over the world. We nurture practical confidence by offering students simulations, exercises and hands-on practical work on historical objects. You will work on a variety of different treatment projects, carefully selected to suit your stage in development. Students approaching the end of their studies are able to choose major project specialisms to suit their aspirations and intended career path."

"The mission of Northumbria is to foster an international community based on teaching excellence and outstanding student support in which learning and academic enquiry are both enriching and exciting. "The Conservation Unit at Northumbria has recently expanded into a new Research Centre and from September 2005 will be offering a number of new programmes. These include: 3 year BA Fine Arts and Conservation Science 3 year BSc Fine Arts and Conservation Science 1 year MA Preventive Conservation - multi disciplinary "The following programmes continue to be offered: MA Conservation of Fine Art - Paper/Easel Paintings MPhil PhD Research Triennial Conservation Conference Workshops in support of Continual Professional Development Northumbria is one of the UK's leading teaching and learning institutions and the Conservation Unit is well known for its innovative and research-based practice. The Programmes offered have a careful balance of practise and theory that prepares graduates for a range of positions within professional practise. Visit our web site to learn more about our staff and the facilities in our conservation centre (web address). Alternatively write or telephone for a course brochure and application form from: Jenny Young Conservation Burt Hall Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8St +44 191 227 3250 Fax: +44 191 227 3250

"The MSc in Architectural Design for the Conservation of Built Heritage provides a robust theoretical and practical education in architectural conservation and the complexities of the built heritage, in a local and international context." "The course is design-orientated and research-based, with a methodological, critical and interdisciplinary approach to architectural conservation, integrating the theoretical, technical and creative aspects of the architectural conservation project."

International Academic Projects Ltd (IAP) was formed in London in 1989 as an international educational charity whose aims are to help promote education, training and research into conservation, archaeology, anthropology and other related fields. The activities of International Academic Projects include the organisation and management of: A Professional Development Programme of short courses in Conservation, Collections Care, Archaeology and Museum Studies. The courses take place in the UK, USA, Europe, etc. A Distant Learning Programme - Chemistry For Conservators Worldwide Consultancy in the Conservation of Antiquities and related fields including the setting up of courses abroad for other organisations.

The London School of Picture & Frame Conservation was established in order to provide a formal training for Picture Conservators. It is currently one of the only schools in the UK to offer a nationally recognised qualification in picture conservation (apart from the very few postgraduate places available). The focus is on easel and panel paintings, frames and polychrome statues.

The focus of the school's training programme is a professional training through both theoretical and practical work as well as group activities, independent research and tutorials with specialists in various fields. A key element is the exchange of ideas on the methodology of conservation used by conservators in other countries.

The school is based in historic Richmond-upon-Thames, ideally located with easy access through the London underground to central London and its many museums and art galleries, and at the same time close to Heathrow Airport and the motorway network.

The courses are open to students over the age of 18 of all nationalities. A good basic education at a secondary school or equivalent level is essential, as is clear motivation regarding choice of course. Students have no need of any formal qualifications to be accepted by the school. Applicants must have an ability to learn practical skills, and need to have patience and be able to pay attention to detail. A knowledge of Art History and drawing skills are both an advantage but not essential.

The lessons are generally 5 hours in length, starting at 9.30 in the morning with a half hour break for lunch which the students normally have together, and finish at 3 in the afternoon. The courses are part time and most students attend once per week, although it is possible to do more.

Students are continually assessed during the course of the year, and produce a portfolio of work for final assessment at the end of the year. An external verifier visits the school during the year to check on the progress of the students. The assessment is normally carried out by an external assessor.

The teaching staff are all specialists in their own field, selected for their enthusiasm and ability. the School has a policy of employing teachers who are part-time, as we believe that those who pursue their professional careers alongside their teaching have more to offer, both from keeping abreast with current techniques and from contacts with their peers.

It is a deliberate policy of the School that class size is kept to a level where all the students may have the full benefit of personal attention. In general the maximum number of students in any one class is eight.

The course carries the award Master of Science, with alternative awards of a Post Graduate Diploma and a Post Graduate Certificate over a period of one year full time or up to four years on a part time basis, depending on the background of the students. It will also be possible to take the modules as free standing units in order to accommodate both full-time, part-time and mature students. This course in the Conservation of Industrial Heritage Artefacts is a unique blend of theoretical and practical study, setting it apart from other industrial archaeological courses. The course will be taught at both the British Engineerium in Hove and the University of Brighton, together with locations where current conservation contracts are in progress.

Middle East

Saving the Stones is a three or five month training internship in conservation and historic preservation. The program is intended to give recent graduates and young professionals in the fields of archaeology, architecture, design, history, art, geography, and other related subjects, the opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge, hands-on in the field of conservation. "Initiated by the International Conservation Center � Citt� di Roma, in Old Acre, Israel. Saving the Stones is a joint project of MASA Israel Journey, Israel Antiquities Authority, the Old Acre Development Company, and the Akko Municipality." "Held at the campus of the Center in the inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Site of Old Acre, this training internship provides intimate access to the veritable living laboratory for the study and application of practical heritage conservation methods and skills."

"UCL, in partnership with Qatar Foundation and Qatar Museums Authority has created UCL Qatar, a center of excellence within the Gulf region for the study of cultural heritage, conservation, archaeology and museum studies. The two-year MSc Conservation Studies programme allows for a number of specializations including objects (metals, stone, ceramics), textiles and archaeological sites. All programmes have a unique emphasis on the Middle East region and include extended placements at sites and in museums."

• MSc Conservation Studies
• MA Archaeology of the Arab and Islamic World
• MA Museum and Gallery Practice
• Specialist short courses in Conservation, Archaeology and Museology for mid-career professionals working within the cultural heritage sector

Related programs

The School offers the following courses: "BSc Honours Degree in International Disaster Engineering and Management, the BSC Honours Degree Development and Health in Disaster Management and the MSc Degree in Disaster Management. We believe the undergraduate course to be unique, and all our courses adopt a multi-disciplinary approach and cover many aspects of disaster management."

"Thomas & Associates, Inc. develops timely and cost-effective training programs to address current issues in museums and art businesses." Workshops/programs include: Art Handling Training Program and Manual; Leadership and Management Skills for Arts Professionals; Film, Video and New Media; Creative Recruiting for Museums and Art Businesses"

Related documents

"The Syllabus Finder is an experiment in the fledgling world of web services, where computers talk directly to each other to try to solve complicated problems or complete tasks that would be difficult to do otherwise. In this case, the computers that talk to each other are the Center for History and New Media's web server and Google's web server. The Syllabus Finder sends an optimized, specially packaged version of your query to Google, which sends back information and possible matches. The Syllabus Finder then processes this information and combines it with simultaneous searches on in-house databases (e.g., a database of educational institutions, so it can tell you which university or college a syllabus comes from). It also has algorithms that try to extract additional information from matching syllabi, such as assigned books. When this complex process is finished, the Syllabus Finder displays all of the information it has found."

• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 27 October 2022

Practices and challenges of cultural heritage conservation in historical and religious heritage sites: evidence from North Shoa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

• Habtamu Mekonnen 1 ,
• Zemenu Bires   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4156-3235 2 &
• Kassegn Berhanu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9981-5901 3  

Heritage Science volume  10 , Article number:  172 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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15 Citations

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Cultural heritage treasures are precious communal assets that show the past human legacy. It depicts present and future way of life as well as cultural values of a society, and enhances solidarity and social integration of communities. This study is designed to investigate the practices and challenges of cultural heritage conservations in North Shoa Zone, Central Ethiopia. The research employed a mixed research approach and cross-sectional descriptive and explanatory research design. The researchers applied multiple data gathering instruments including questionnaire survey, interview, focus group discussion and observation. Concerning sampling techniques, systematic random sampling technique was applied to select samples from local communities, and purposive sampling was designed to choose interviewees from government authorities, and culture and tourism office experts of North Shoa Zone and respective districts. The actual and valid sample size of the study is 236. The findings of the study revealed that the cultural heritage properties in North Shoa are not safeguarded from being damaged and found in a poor status of conservation. The major conclusion sketched from the study is that the principal factors affecting heritage conservation are lack of proper management, monitoring and evaluation, lack of funds and stakeholder involvement, urbanization, settlement programs and agricultural practice, poor government concern and professional commitment, poor attitude towards cultural heritage and low level of community concern, vandalism and illicit trafficking, low promotions of cultural heritage, and natural catastrophes such as invasive intervention, climate change (humidity and frost, excessive rainfall and flood, heat from the sun). The study implied that the sustainability of cultural heritage in the study area are endanger unless conservation practice is supported by conservation guidelines, heritage site management plans and research outputs, stakeholders’ integration, and community involvement. Most importantly, the study recommends the integration of heritage conservation and sustainable development, and the promotion of conservation is a way of achieving economic and social sustainability.

Introduction

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to the future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage resources are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration. They are our touchstones, our points of reference, and our identity [ 1 ]. Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts, cultural property, and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present, and bestowed for the benefit of future generations [ 2 , 3 ].

According to Bleibleh and Awad [ 4 ], and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, 1972: Article 1), cultural heritage includes monuments: architectural works, sculpture, painting, inscriptions, archaeological structure, cave dwellings; buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings and their architectures, homogeneity or place in the landscape; and sites: man made creativity or the combined work of nature and man. Cultural heritage should have outstanding universal value from the historical, architectural, commemorative, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view. Cultural heritage provides communities, groups, and individuals with a sense of identity and continuity, helping them to visualize their world and giving meaning to their way of living together [ 5 ].

In Ethiopian nations, nationalities, and people’s context, the definition of cultural heritage could be used to incorporate their varied social, economic, political, administrative, moral, religious, and psychological conditions [ 6 ]. Ethiopia is a great country with its fabulous 3000 years history [ 7 ], a population of about 114 million people endowed with astonishingly rich linguistic and cultural diversity with more than 80 living languages and 200 dialects, spoken by as many ethno-linguistic communities [ 8 ].

In this era of globalization, there is a growing fear that culture around the world will become more uniform, leading to a decrease in cultural diversity. To counter this potential homogeneity, strategies have been developed to preserve culture of various communities whose very existence could be threatened. Living culture is highly susceptible to becoming extinct [ 9 , 10 ]. Currently, the surge of interest in culture is creating new possibilities for safeguarding cultural heritage as a major component in building a sustainable cultural vision for the world [ 11 ]. In the context of UNESCO’s activities, the value and the importance of safeguarding cultural heritage is universally recognized [ 1 ].

Conservation of cultural heritage can be defined as all measures and actions aimed at safeguarding cultural heritage while ensuring its accessibility to present and future generations. Conservation embraces preventive preservation, adaptation, reconstruction, and restoration. All measures and actions should respect the significance and physical properties of the cultural heritage item [ 12 ].

In Ethiopia, the Authorities for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) within the Ministry of Tourism and UNESCO Addis Ababa Office established a joint work plan (2006–2007) concerning inventorying and safeguarding both tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the country [ 7 ]. Besides, both the 1995 constitution and the 1997 cultural policy of Ethiopia refers to equal safeguard, recognition of and respect for all Ethiopian languages, heritage, history, handicraft, fine arts, oral literature, traditional lore, beliefs, and other cultural features. Following the ratification of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Cultural Heritage, the ARCCH designed a strategy on the identification, safeguarding, and promotion of cultural heritage through a national inventory-making exercise.

In principle, in Ethiopia, there are policies, guidelines and regulations of cultural heritage conservation. In practice, however, the majority of the heritage attractions are in poor conservation status (for instance light shelter protection to the world heritage site of Lalibela Rock hewn Churches); demolished due to ignorance (e.g. Ankober Archaeological site); intentionally destructed due to misinterpretation and interethnic conflict (as evidenced on Ras Mekonnen Monument in Harar, Ethiopia), and the destruction of Al-Negash Mosque in Tigray, Ethiopia due to the war between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and Tigray Liberation Front.

North Shoa is a special focus from cultural and historical perspectives. Historically, the region had been administrative centres or seats of government for the Kings of Shoa and Ethiopia from the reign of Amde-Tsion (1314–1344) and Zera Yakob (1434–1468) up to Emperor Menelik II (1865–1913). In this regard, the historical sites such as Menz, Tegulet, Debre Berhan, Sela Dingay, Ankober, Liche, and Angolela had served as a headquarter of the government of Ethiopia in the medieval history and in the second half of nineteenth century.

When almost all African nations were under European colonization in the late 19 th and in the first half of twentieth century, Shoa in general and North Shoa in particular, was in position to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Europeans countries. Consequently, European embassies (for instance British, France and Italy) were opened at Ankober for the first time. Most importantly, the region is a birth place of prominent patriots (e.g. Ras Abebe Aregay, Hailemariam Mamo, Buayalew Abate, Fiwtarari Gebeyehu to mention few among many) who sacrificed a lot in defending the sovereignty of Ethiopia against foreign aggressors.

Culturally, North Shoa is also rich with Christian religious sites such as churches, monasteries, and holy water. Famous religious sites include but not limited to Tsadikanie St. Mary Church, Kukyelesh St. Mary, Abune Melike Tsedik monastery, Zebir Gabriel church, Seminesh Kidane   Mihiret church which are known for their annual religious ceremonies, holy water that cure diseases and cleanse sins. Important traditional games such as hockey and horse racing or horse galloping are practiced along with feast days. Besides, North Shoa is not only a special attention for the Christians, but also known for its rich history and incredible Islamic heritage relics. The sultanates of Shoa (9th–thirteenth century), Ifat (thirteenth–fifteenth century) as well as the 13th medieval great mosque of Goze (still existing Islamic architecture) are some of the evidences of the historical and religious Islamic civilizations [ 13 , 14 ].

However, despite the presence of plenty of cultural and historical heritage in Ethiopia in general and North Shoa Zone in particular, their sustainability is in question and the contribution of heritage tourism to the host community is very low due to various impacts such as developmental projects near or on heritage sites, absence of demarked buffer zones, lack of awareness or ignorance, theft and looting, embezzlement, inappropriate conservation practices, and natural damage/ deteriorations. The most widely known problems of cultural heritage include archaeological looting, destruction of cultural sites, and the theft of works of art from churches and museums all over the world are testimonies of cultural heritage destructions [ 15 ].

According to Eken, Taşcı, and Gustafsson [ 16 ] cultural heritage properties are vulnerable to various physical, chemical, natural and anthropogenic factors that worsening the sustainability of heritage attractions. Though North Shoa has a paramount significance from historical and cultural perspectives, it has never received due attention from the government, researchers and other conservationists stakeholders as bold as its potentials. Besides, scholarly works regarding cultural heritage conservation are not sufficient in East Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular. Hence, to address this research gap, the need to research on challenges and practices of cultural heritage conservation is one of the top priorities.

Literature review

Issues of cultural heritage, cultural ownership, rights, politics and representation.

When the homogenization and standardization of heritage occur, the politics of cultural identity emerges as a critical issue. This is particularly true since heritage is not just a matter of the past, but very much a conduit for constructing the future [ 17 ]. In other words, how the local communities present their cultural heritage to the outside visitors affects the way the community members envisage their future. This has been observed in numerous cross-cultural ethnographic cases [ 18 , 19 ]. Needless to say, how to represent the cultural heritage reflects the present condition of political hierarchies that exist within the society.

Members of local communities have diverse opinions that are positioned in different contexts of their lives. A unified representation of cultural heritage may not be something that some members of the community can easily accept [ 20 ]. This may affect the community negatively in both socio-cultural and political domains. Sometimes, the cohesiveness within the community is weakened, and some members even decide to leave the community altogether which is a serious breach of the cultural rights of these members.

Identification and documentation of cultural heritage

Inventories should identify threats that certain elements of cultural heritage is facing. Based on such information, a plan for safeguarding or revitalization can be developed. When conservation of heritage property is impossible due to lack of funds and experts; digital preservation deemed to be an alternative means of safeguarding cultural heritage. According to Koiki- Owoyele, Alabi and Egbunu [ 21 ] heritage digitization is a process of taking photographs or scanning a material and transferring it to a computer. The dissemination of digital preserved heritage on websites, social media platforms and Google search optimization helps to reach more users which in turn reduce the cost and energy of users to undertake a journey to a library, archive or museum to visit the heritage. Digital preservation is a long lasting solution to threats such as decay, war, fire and flood and enables to secure the availability of useful resources for academicians of future generations [ 22 ].

Danger of extinction

According to Karin and Philippe [ 23 ] the new alternative approaches to cultural heritage conservation recognize the importance of preserving vital and living elements of culture. Because of natural and human factors, developments around cultural heritage, conflict of interest among stakeholders, theft and vandalism, and inappropriate conservational practices, and hence, the danger of losing them is sometimes underestimated [ 24 ].

Truscott [ 25 ] argued that local communities themselves often do not see the importance of preserving their cultural heritage properties. They may consider their cultural heritage as backward and as a hindrance to their ability to access "modern society" and economic wealth. It is essential, therefore, not only to create a system that values and respects minority culture but also to encourage communities to become aware of their cultural treasures and to help them find ways to preserve those treasures [ 26 ].

Roy and Kalidindi [ 27 ] stated that rapid growth of urbanization, mass tourism, lack of funds, improper project selection, lack of traditional know-how among conservation professionals, poor handling system or heritage management, corruption, and erroneous conservation policy are responsible for the poor performance of heritage conservation projects [ 28 ]. Besides, adverse factors that threaten heritage conservation include heritage trafficking, limited community participation in conservation, cultural degradation, and inadequate attention from government bodies, and poor coordination among stakeholders [ 29 ]. Other critical issues of heritage conservation encompass indigenous claims of ownership and access to material culture, authentic, original value embodied in material culture [ 30 ]; removal of monuments from their original site, damage through the flooding of agricultural land, resettlement programs and rebuilding of urban centres [ 31 ].

Cultural heritage properties have been attacked in wars of conquest and colonization, during interstate and civil conflicts, by governments, protestors or rebels across the world [ 32 ]. Monuments such as historical buildings and statues; religious sites like synagogues, mosques, temples, monasteries, churches; material culture exhibitions and collection sites (e.g. museums, art galleries, and libraries) which depict the collective narratives, stories and memories of people have become vulnerable to destructions [ 33 ].

It has been documented that over 13,000 cultural heritage sites were destroyed in the Middle East particularly in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya [ 34 ]. The widespread devastation or attacks include world heritage sites. For instance, the six UNESCO World Heritage sites of Syria such as the Ancient City of Damascus, the Ancient City of Bosra, the Site of Palmyra (ancient temples, tombs and antiquities with the age of more than 2000 years), the Ancient City of Aleppo, Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din, and the Ancient Villages of Northern Syria or Dead Cities are either destroyed or partially damaged during the armed conflict between ISIS (also called IS, ISIL, Da’esh or the Islamic State) and state government [ 35 , 36 ].

The ISIS has systematically been destroying the cultural heritage (ancient monuments, mosques, shrines, cemeteries, works of art at museums and libraries) blowing up the Armenian, Syrian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, monasteries and the tombs of prophets. Thousands of archaeological and cultural sites (including those aged in the Bronze, Iron, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods) in Syria are victims of the on-going fighting or war [ 37 ].

The destruction of Yazidi shrines and the obliteration of ancient sculptures called “lamassu", a vital symbol to the modern Assyrian Christian population, and the devastation and vandalism of other Christian relics and churches in the Tadmor and Palmyra area were deliberate to deface the minority religious and cultural sites as well as to terrorize and subdue the minorities [ 38 ].

As noted in the work of Wollentz [ 39 ] during the Yugoslavian Civil War, cultural heritage such as the medieval Stari Most Bridge was destroyed, and the old town of Dubrovnik, one of the first sites inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites was bombarded.

In Africa, the most outstanding cultural site of Timbuktu (Mali) famous for its world heritage sites of mausoleums and mosques having exceptional cultural, historical and spiritual significance were targeted to destruction [ 40 ].

By the same token, the Eritrea–Ethiopia war in 1998–2000 was responsible for the devastation of an essential archaeological monument nearby the Ethio-Eritrea border [ 41 ].

The major causes for the destruction of cultural heritage and systematic cultural cleansing include civil war, ignorance and negligence, religious differences or fundamentalism and radical ideologies (for instance, ISIS perceived that most of the cultural and religious heritage in the middle east are false idols that are heretical to Islam) [ 42 , 43 ], a mission to accomplish military, political, and economic objectives [ 34 ] and developmental projects such as urban reconstruction [ 44 ].

Lack of funds and experts, and organizational structure problem

The custodian of cultural heritage is not always good at organizing or management of funds [ 31 ]. On the other hand, those who are experts in organizing and managing funds are not always experts or even interested in cultural heritage. So the solution has been creating collaboration between these two kinds of people: between the cultural heritage custodians and those who are experts in managing and organizing these kinds of projects [ 45 ]. Another mechanism of securing funds and initiating experts is devising means of discussions regarding the values of cultural heritage on different media such as social media, broadcast media, and printed media. The other issue mentioned by Mancacaritadipura [ 45 ] the younger generation is less interested in the local culture. To overcome this issue, Mancacaritadipura suggested that the school curriculum should include cultural heritage at local content [ 45 ]. Besides the main curriculum, Mike and David [ 46 ] forwarded that awareness creation about the significance and promotion of cultural heritage should be undertaken in schools, colleges, and universities.

As observed in many African countries, states have not yet created an official section and positions in the Department of Culture and Tourism to be specifically responsible for cultural heritage [ 26 ]. Truscoot (2000) forwarded that the government may create a sub-directorate of cultural heritage which will make it easier to do long-term programs [ 25 ]. Besides, UNESCO (2005) has been identified difficulties in finding qualified human resources to participate in efforts to preserve and develop cultural heritage [ 47 ].

Opportunities for safeguarding cultural heritage

Stakeholders involvement.

Cultural heritage must be thoughtfully managed if it is to survive in an increasingly globalized world [ 47 ]. True partnerships are required between all relevant stakeholders, particularly governments, private tourism sectors, NGOs, and local communities. Through mutual understanding, key stakeholders can build on their shared interest in cultural assets, in close consultation with local communities, the ultimate bearers of humankind’s cultural legacy [ 48 ]. The awareness and attitude of among stakeholders towards the conservation of cultural heritage is crucial to have a common stake among interest groups towards cultural heritage and development, to keep sustainable conservation management, and to promote cultural tourism [ 49 ]. Community-based tourism projects allow for direct communication between communities and heritage tourism while sustainably developing cultural assets as tourism products [ 50 ].

Community participation

Communities must be actively involved in safeguarding and managing their cultural heritage since it is only the one who can consolidate their presence and ensure its future [ 51 ]. Each community, using its collective memory and consciousness of its past, is responsible for the identification as well as the management of its heritage [ 52 ]. Communities, in particular indigenous communities, groups, and, in some cases, individuals, play an important role in the production, safeguarding, maintenance, and re-creation of the intangible cultural heritage. Within the framework of safeguarding the cultural heritage, each state party shall endeavour to ensure the widest possible participation of communities, groups, and, where appropriate, individuals that create, maintain, and transmit such heritage, and to involve them actively in its management [ 53 ]. Apart from stakeholders’ participation and community involvement, resource mobilization, ecotourism activities, and corporate fundraising mechanisms could be devised to achieve conservation programmes, and contribution should be based on willingness and abilities of stakeholders [ 54 ].

UNESCO committee and convention for safeguarding cultural heritage

Today, even in a world of mass communication and global cultural flows, many forms of cultural heritage properties are being preserved or conserved in every corner of the world [ 55 ]. Other forms and elements of cultural heritage resources which are more fragile, and some are even endangered and needs measures called for by the UNESCO Convention of safeguarding cultural heritage at the national and international levels can help communities to ensure that their heritage remains available to their descendants for decades and centuries to come [ 56 ]. The Convention recognizes that the communities, groups, and, in some cases, individuals who safeguard and maintain cultural heritage must be its primary stewards and guardians, but their efforts can be supported or undercut by state policies and institutions [ 5 ]. The challenges facing such communities, and those who work on their behalf, are to ensure that their children and grandchildren continue to have the opportunity to experience the heritage of the generations that preceded them and that measures intended to safeguard such heritage are carried out with the full involvement and the free, prior and informed consent of the communities, groups, and individuals concerned [ 56 ].

Theoretical framework of the study

Recently, heritage conservation domains received adequate attention from both the academia and practitioners [ 57 ]. According to Sinamai [ 58 ] the practices of heritage conservation and management must align with the principle of community-based cultural heritage conservation which recognizes the communities’ well-being and empowers the host community through the harnessing of endogenous knowledge and skills. And, heritage conservation practices shall respect local culture such as vernacular architecture. Certain principles shall be adhered when cultural heritage conservation is applied. The heritage shall continue to be used according to its earlier purpose, and when this is not feasible, a compatible use should be sought with minimal alteration to the heritage and its context. Conservation techniques shall also focus on repairing rather than replacing. Since, heritage relics are authentic evidence of our past, historic fabrics should be kept as much as possible. While repairing and maintaining the heritage, emphasis shall be paid to respect the heritage context, location and significant views shall be maintained [ 59 ]. Cultural heritage can be deteriorated, damaged or destructed due to anthropogenic and natural factors. The anthropogenic or human factors include conflict of interest and ownership issues, contestation and cultural politics [ 12 , 60 ], negligence, ignorance and poor handling system, theft and illicit trafficking, civil war, unprofessional conservation, urbanization, developmental projects, large scale agriculture and mining activities [ 58 ]. The natural factors may encompass climatic and geological factors such as solar radiation, rainfall, humidity, wind pressure, and natural catastrophes such as earth quake, flooding, lighting and thunder as well as biological factors like plants (e.g. invasive specious, weeds) and animals such as rat can harm the heritage [ 16 ]. Depending on the level of impact on the heritage, various conservation approaches can be applied or practiced. These are: Maintenance -continuous protective care of the fabric and setting of heritage [ 57 ]; Preservation - maintaining the fabric of heritage in its existing state and retarding deterioration [ 61 ]; Restoration -returning the existing fabric of a place to a known earlier state by removing accretions or by reassembling existing components without the introduction of new material [ 62 ]; Reconstruction - returning a place to a known earlier state and is distinguished from restoration by the introduction of new material into the fabric [ 61 ]; and Adaptation - modifying a place to suit the existing use or a proposed use [ 63 ].

Based on the literature review and theoretical framework, a conceptual framework is formulated as illustrated in Fig.  1 .

Conceptual framework of the study (Own compilation, 2021)

Methods and materials

Description of the study area.

North Shoa Zone of Amhara regional state is located in the central part of Ethiopia, north of the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. North Shoa Zone is blessed with plenty of cultural, historical, and natural tourism resources [ 64 ]. The study area is chosen due to its rich medieval Christian and Islamic historical and cultural heritage relics of Ankober historical site, Koremash of bullet factory, Angolela Tera of King Sahilesillassie palace and Goze Mosque (See Fig.  2 ).

Map of the Study Area (Researchers own map, 2021)

Research approach and data analysis techniques

The research employed both qualitative and quantitative research approaches which is a mixed research approach. A descriptive and explanatory method of cross-sectional research design was used. The descriptive research design helps to describe the current heritage conservation practices and challenges. And, explanatory research design was used to examine the impacts of predictors or explanatory variables such as anthropogenic and natural factors on cultural heritage conservations.

The quantitative data was collected through a questionnaire survey whereas qualitative data was gathered using interviews, site observations, focus group discussions and document analysis. Due to the nature of the study, the researchers applied multiple data gathering instruments as stated above. For instance, survey questionnaire helps to collect information regarding community’s sense of belongingness, access to capacity building trainings, community’s concern or attitude of cultural heritage. And, information such as status of cultural heritage conservation, on-going conservation practices, and buffer zones demarcation can be obtained through field observations. Interview and focus group discussions help to get information with respect to roles of stakeholders towards cultural conservation, promotion of cultural heritage, fund and expert issues. Document analysis helps to gather information such as action plans of respective offices, conservation procedures and guidelines and management of heritage.

The subjects of this study include the local communities, North Shoa Zone and district’s Culture and Tourism office staff, Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) and religious institutions having direct and indirect involvement in tourism activities. Self-administered questionnaire were disseminated using random sampling techniques to 384 households.

Informants for interview were selected purposively based on their knowledge and closeness to the research problem under study. A total of 10 purposively selected individuals (from North Shoa Culture and Tourism, Debre Berhan Culture and Tourism Office, Angolola and Tera Culture and Tourism Office, Ankober Culture and Tourism Office, and ARCCH) were interviewed. Focus group discussants were selected from local representatives such as religious leaders, local elders, and 4 focus group discussions (total 28 discussants) was performed at prominent heritage sites, namely: Ankober, Koremash, Goze and Angolela district. The interview and focus group discussions were undertaken through taking notes and recording followed by transcribing.

The quantitative data was analysed through descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviations) and inferential statistics such as exploratory factor analysis, correlations and regressions whereas, content analysis was employed to thematically analyse the qualitative data.

Reliability and validity analysis

The reliability and validity test has been conducted to assure the appropriateness of the instrument and the consistency of the results using the pilot study. The validity of the research explains how well the collected data covers the actual area of investigation [ 36 ]. Hence, to assure the validity of the instruments, the research adapted the standardized questionnaires and interview checklists from literature [ 8 , 15 , 18 , 27 , 29 , 50 , 57 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 66 ] and the items were checked by consulting the research advisors and subject area experts. Hence 15 questionnaires were distributed to tourism and heritage management experts working at universities, culture and tourism offices, and ARCCH to check content validity. And, experts forwarded important inputs regarding the contents, layout and structure of the questionnaire.

Besides, the reliability concerns the extent to which a measurement of a phenomenon provides stable and consist result, or it is all about the consistency of the result to measure inter-item homogeneity of each construct using Cronbach’s alpha value greater than or equal to 0.70 and the inter-item correlations were greater than or equal to 0.30 were included to collect data and included in the analysis [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]. According to Sharma [ 71 ] reliability statistics is classified the depending on the Cronbach alpha value: α ≥ 0.90 = Excellent, 0.90 > α ≥ 0.80 = Good, 0.80 > α ≥ 0.70 = Acceptable, 0.70 > α ≥ 0.60 = Questionable, 0.60 > α ≥ 0.50 = Poor and α < 0.50 = Unacceptable.

In the present study, the reliability analysis was made by employing 58 observations which are nearly 15% of the total sample population [i.e., 15%*384 = 57.6) for a pilot survey. The items from each of the constructs having very low inter-item correlation below.30 were removed. The reliability analysis (see Table 1 ) revealed the Cronbach alpha coefficient that exhibited the consistency of the results that ranges from 0.741 to 0.802 that made the result acceptable [ 69 , 70 ].

Results and discussion

Respondents characteristics.

From a total of 384 disseminated questionnaires, 198 valid observations (52% response rate) were useful for analysis, and the majority of the respondents were males that account for 143 (72. 2%) whereas 55 (27.8%) were female respondents (see Table 2 ). And, the majority of them were youngsters under 18–35 years of age that accounting for 175 (79.3%). The survey indicates the youngsters are the majority of employees working and residing around cultural heritage which can be basic to apply cultural heritage conservation practices for better off.

Regarding place of residence and livelihood strategy of the respondents, 68 (34.3%), 52 (26.3%) and 44 (22.2%) reside in and around heritage sites namely, Ankober Medahnealem , Koremash and Goze whereas few respondents accounted for 34 (17.2%) lived in Angolela Kidanemihret area. Regarding the livelihood strategy people employed, the majority of the respondent led their household through employment in government offices followed by engaging in agriculture and working as a private employee accounts for 61.6%, 12.1% and 9.6% respectively (see Table 3 ).

Practices of cultural heritage conservation

The research finding indicates that 12.1% and 30.8% of respondents strongly disagreed, and disagreed respectively whereas 33.8% and 7.6% of respondents agreed and strongly agreed regarding an attempt of cultural heritage conservation in the study areas. The result revealed that there is insufficient attempt to conserve the heritage. Similar to this study, in Africa and many developing countries, cultural heritage have been facing hindrances of multiple platforms in unplanned manner that didn’t account for heritages sustainable use [ 72 ]. Unlike the finding of the present study, Ekwelem, Okafor and Ukwoma [ 72 ] pointed that the preservation of cultural heritage properties enhances historical and cultural continuity, fosters social cohesion, enables to visualization of the past and envisioning the future, and hence it is indispensable for sustainable development. Another study that supports this argument revealed that a need for conservation of heritage is subjected to a desire to transfer away from object oriented conservation and preservation practices, and the theoretical commitment to social constructivism that consider heritage a socio-cultural process [ 73 ]. The aforementioned two findings assured that heritage conservation practices should not only prepare for their objective value like source of economy but also as a social and cultural process that could maintain history which in turn escalate social cohesion, promote identity and proud. The finding revealed that the local community has a sense of belongingness and identity to the cultural heritage as it is portrayed by the respondents' response shown by 34.3% and 7.1% of agreement and strong agreement. This significant level of community belongingness and awareness about the cultural heritage will overpoweringly support the conservation efforts at heritage sites [ 74 ].

The practice of cultural heritage conservation in the study area is not based on research as 16.2% & 38.4% of the respondents strongly disagreed and disagreed in this regard. The present finding suggests that in-depth and strong research to develop conservation guidelines and undertake conservation activities in heritage sites. According to Garrod and Fyall [ 75 ], conservation management should consider timeliness and managerial prudence. The timeliness concept stated that conservation funds should be allotted in a timely fashion to save high conservation costs in the future. From the managerial prudence angle, parallel measures or techniques should be designed to prevent further deterioration [ 75 ]. Moreover, the study of Oevermann [ 76 ] scrutinized the “Good Practice Wheel” that is composed of management, conservation, reuse, community engagement, sustainable development and climate change, education, urban development, and research that expresses each of the good practice criteria spinning wheels which also needs the consideration of those criteria while practising heritage conservation. In this regard, the conservationist expert from ARCCH (personal communication, 21 June 2021) also underlined that,

Though there are efforts by the conservationists to undertake in-depth research, there are initiations mainly from the political leaders showing a commitment to conserve the heritage without adequate research and analysis.

Another participant from the Authority for Conservation of Cultural Heritage (Head, Conservators, personal communication, June 17, 2021) portrayed;

The basis and detrimental problem in the practices of conservation especially in cultural heritage is either lack of original material to conserve perfectly as it was or unavailability of raw materials that resemble originality which makes the conservation practice less effective. He added that the problem exacerbated by the lack of conservationists in the field makes the Ethiopian Heritage in danger.

Besides, regular follow-up of existing status for conservation hasn't been made with 20.7% and 37.9% of strong disagreements and disagreements that revealed poor status of conservation. Similarly, capacity building training on heritage conservation is not delivered at different times to the communities, conservationists and other key stakeholders that are exhibited by a total of 65.7% level of disagreement (where 26.3 replied with strong disagreement and 29.4% replied with a disagreement scale). Only 17.7% of respondents were found in the agreement response category whereas 16.7% were unable to fall in the two categories either (see Table 4 ). Hence, the finding of this study revealed that there is a low-level practice of cultural heritage which needs to be improved. Analogues to this, the conservation of heritage requires the three most important elements of heritage conservation underlined by professionals (curators, academics and consultants) are training and expertise of maintenance staff, budget and financial planning, and conservation plan [ 77 ]. Conservation efforts should be monitored that could follow up information for condition, risks and value assessment, strengths and support strategic heritage planning regularly which in turn should be developed based on an inventory system that requires continuous monitoring [ 78 ].

Challenges of cultural heritage conservation

This study was also concerned with the investigation of the various barriers that hinder cultural heritage conservation practices for better management and sustainability of cultural heritage. Thus, to identify these factors, factor analysis was employed to extract the list of factors and to group each of the linear components onto each factor if found significant. A total of 22 items or linear component factors (variables) were employed after checking the reliability of items in the pilot survey. Those variables were coded as: 01-The local community have no positive attitude towards cultural heritage; 02- The local community are not concerned to the cultural heritage; 03- Population growth and settlement programs have impacts on cultural heritage of the area; 04- Conflict of interest among stakeholders to safeguard the cultural heritage; 05- A practices of heritage conservation without the involvement of professional; 06- Practice of illicit trafficking of cultural objects; 07- The cultural heritage is not promoted for sustainable tourism development; 08- Practice of farming in and around the cultural heritage; 09- Adequate budget/ financial allocation for conservation of cultural heritage; 10- Little concern of government and local authorities about the heritage; 11- Professionals lack enough commitment to engage in conservation practices; 12- Media failed to expose the problems of heritage to the community in time; 13- Travel agents and tour operators are negligent to the sustainability of heritage; 14- Inappropriate conservation practices of cultural heritage; 15- Lack of buffer zone demarcations of the heritage sites; 16- Natural catastrophes and climate variations (flooding, frost, acidic rain, storm, heat from the sun) deteriorate cultural heritage; 17- Development projects such as buildings, roads affect the sustainability of heritage; 18- The heritage hosts more than its carrying capacity during different events; 19- Funding agencies lack willingness to provide aids and loans to cultural heritage; 20- There is no regular monitoring and evaluation of cultural heritage status by the concerned body; 21- The growth of vegetation over the heritage, and 22- The heritage are challenged by biological factor such as rat and other biological organisms.

The assumptions of relationship, randomness and sampling adequacy were checked in the analysis of exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

The descriptive statistics revealed that all the 22 linear component factors or variables have a mean value greater than 3 with a range varied from 3.41 to 3.95 for a total of 198 valid observations made for analysis. And, there was no missing data in the analysis.

The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity (see Table 5 ) also indicated that the sample size employed was adequate and the assumption is met with the KMO and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity value of 0.768 and Sig. = 0.000. A value varies between 0 and 1 where the value close to 1 indicates that patterns of correlations are relatively compact and so factor analysis should yield distinct and reliable factors. Kaiser [ 79 ] recommends accepting values greater than 0.5 as acceptable. Hence, the current value of KMO Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity meets the assumption [ 79 ].

The communalities table also presented the relationship of one of the variables with the other variables before rotation with which a value greater or equal to 0.30 indicates the employed sample is acceptable and results will not be distorted. The current finding has confirmed this assumption of factor analysis with the value ranging from 0.315 to 0.784 which is significantly above 0.30.

Factor extraction and variance explained

The present finding indicated that 59.51% of the total variance is explained by the seven factors extracted out of 21 linear components variables included in the model with Eigenvalues greater than one. Hence, the Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings indicated that the first factor contributed about 14.726% and the 2nd contributes 9.412% whereas the 3rd and 4th factors accounted for 8.808% and 7.503% of the variance explained. The 5th, 6th, and 7th factors contributed to about 7.222%, 6.509% and 5.325% of variance explained in cultural heritage conservation (see Table 6 ).

Factor rotation

The rotated factor matrix indicates the rotated component matrix (also called the rotated factor matrix in factor analysis) which is a matrix of the factor loadings for each variable on to each factor. The component loadings for each factor are positive that shows the positive relationship between the variable and each principal component. The values below 0.45 were suppressed while extracting the factors, and are not displayed in the rotated component matrix and the factor loadings were sorted by size. The orthogonal rotation was used with the assumption that the variables are independent of each other [ 80 ]. Before rotation, most variables loaded highly onto the first factor (21.554% variance explained) and the remaining factors didn't get a look in. However, the rotation of the factor structure has clarified things considerably with the equivalence of variance explained. As can be depicted in the rotated matrix table, there are seven components or factors that have been extracted as a factor hindering the management of cultural heritage conservation. Hence, Principal Component factor analysis with Varimax rotation was conducted to assess the underlying structure for the 22 items of the challenges of cultural heritage conservation practices. The assumption of independent sampling, normality, linear relationships between pairs of variables, and the variables being correlated at a moderate level were checked.

Seven factors were extracted after rotation, the first factor accounted for 14.726% of the variance and was composed of seven items related to lack of proper management, monitoring and evaluation, whereas the second factor accounted for 9.412% that consisted of a cluster of three variables that were related to lack of stakeholder involvement and population settlement. The third factor accounted for 8.808% and it comprised of two items which are related to lack of government concern and professional commitment. The fourth factor consisted of three items and it is related to lack of community concern, illicit trafficking and promotion for sustainable development and accounted for 7.503%. The group of two items related to poor destination management and conservation practice make the fifth factor that accounted for 7.222% whereas the sixth factor accounted for 6.509% and comprises two items that are related to natural catastrophes and agricultural practices (see Table 7 ). The 7th factor encompasses only a single variable that is related to the lack of communities' positive attitudes towards cultural heritage.

Table 7 displays the items and factor loadings for the rotated factors, with factor loadings less than 0.40 omitted to improve clarity. Similar to the present study, heritage properties can be affected by the impacts of visitors such as overcrowding which may result in wear and tear including trampling, handling, humidity, temperature, pilfering and graffiti [ 75 ].

Mathematical representations of factor loadings

Like regression, a linear model of the mathematical equation can be applied to the scenario of describing a factor. The factor loadings are represented by b ‘s. According to Field [ 80 ], the equation can be written as.

Fi = b1X1i + b2X2i + … + bnXni.

Where Fi is the estimate of the ith Factor; b 1 is the weight or factor loading of variable X1, b2 is the factor loading of variable X2, bn is the factor loading of variable Xn, and n is the number of variables.

Accordingly, it was stated that seven factors were found underlying the construct Factors affecting cultural heritage conservation. Consequently, an equation can be constructed for each factor in terms of the items that have been measured.

Factor 1 = 0.671(X1) + 0.668 (X2) + 0.664 (X3) + 0.626(X4) + 0.571 (X5) + 0.571 (X6) + 0.485(X7).

By substituting the mean value of each item (question), the approximate percentage variance that factor 1 can explain can be calculated.

Factor1 = 0.671(3.58) + 0.668 (3.36) + 0.664 (4.33) + 0.626(3.60) + 0.571 (3.60) + 0.571 (2.88) + 0.485(2.86) = 14.2

Factor 2 = 0.742(X8) + 0.710(X9) + 0.576(X10) = 0.742 (4.53) + 0.710(4.42) + 0.576(4.72) = 9.23.

Applying similar formula for the remaining factors, and adding the calculated values together, or the summation of all factors will be a total of 58.51 which means using the mathematical equations, the seven factors together can explain 58.51% of the variance. As explained before in the total variance explained in Table 7 , in the rotated sums of squared loadings column, it has been said that the seven components explained 59.51% of the variance. Hence with a minor difference, values calculated from the equation and summations of a percentage of variance in the total variance explained Table 7 provide an approximately similar result. The difference may be resulted either from using the approximate values after the decimal point or the factor loadings less than 0.4 that were suppressed.

After conducting the exploratory factor analysis and extracting the seven factors, the multiple linear regressions was applied to confirm which factors affect the practice of cultural heritage conservation.

Assumptions of multiple linear regression

The relationship between the independent variable and dependent variables is linear. This assumption was confirmed as it is reflected by the scatter plot that showed the relationship is linear for all independent variables: lack of proper management, monitoring and evaluation, lack of stakeholder involvement and population settlement, lack of government concern and professional commitment, lack of community concern, illicit trafficking and promotion towards sustainable development, poor destination management and conservation practice, natural catastrophes and agricultural practices, and the local community have no positive attitude towards cultural heritage conservation.

There is no multicollinearity in the data set. Multicollinearity exists when the correlation coefficient r between independent variables is above 0.80. Hence, no independent variable was found to have multicollinearity problems with each other with all below 0.80 where the highest Pearson correlation value of 0.688. Besides, the multicollinearity issue can be checked by VIF and tolerance level where VIF is below 10 and tolerance level > 0.20 [ 81 ]. Hence, VIF and Tolerance are found within the acceptable region.

The values of the residual are independent. The residuals of the data set in the sample stratum were found independent or uncorrelated which can also be tested based on Durbin-Watson statistics (above one and below 3). The Durbin Watson statistics is 1.821.

The assumption of homoscedasticity: the assumption that shows the variation in the residual is a similar constant at each point of the model. As it can be shown, the closer the data points to a straight line when plotted, the points are about the same distance from the line meaning the data points have the same scatter. This can be shown by the normality probability curve of the scatter plot (see Fig.  3 ).

The values of the residual are normally distributed. This assumption can be tested by looking at the p-p plot for the model. The closer the dote lies to the diagonal line; the closer to normal the residuals are distributed. The normal p-p plot dotes (see Fig.  4 ) line indicates that the assumption of normality has not to be violated.

Scatter Plot; Conservation of Cultural Heritage (Field Survey, 2021)

Normal P-P Plot of Dependent Variable (Field Survey, 2021)

Regression results

The Pearson`s correlation table indicates (see Table 8 ) that there was a significant relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable i.e. cultural heritage conservation at a p value of 0.05 level of significance. However, lack of stakeholder involvement and population settlement, poor destination management and conservation practice and lack of the local community positive attitude towards cultural heritage were not significantly correlated with the cultural heritage conservation practice (r = 0.057, sig = 0.212; r = − 0.008, sig. = 0.458 and r = 0.016, Sig = 0.410). Thus, the indicators were removed from the regression model.

The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) table (see Table 9 ) exhibits the goodness of fit of the model and revealed the model is appropriate and the introduction of the independent variables has improved by at least one predictor (P = 0.001) significant at 1% level of significance. Thus, the model is the best-fitted model presenting the regression that presents the significant independent variables that significantly explain the dependent variable.

The model summary shows the predicted variable i.e. practices of cultural heritage conservation is explained by the introduced independent variables viz., natural catastrophes and agricultural practices, lack of community concern, illicit trafficking, promotion towards sustainable development, lack of government concern and professional commitment, and lack proper management, monitoring and evaluation accounted for 7.9% with an adjusted R square value of 0.079 (see Table 10 ). The variance explained in the model summary table is also supported by the coefficients table that exhibited some of the extracted factors that were significant.

The coefficient result shows that the largest β value is the greatest predictor of heritage conservation. Among the independent variables, lack of community concern, illicit trafficking and promotion towards sustainable development was found the most significant factor affecting practices of cultural heritage conservation (β = − 0.213, p < 0.05) followed by natural catastrophes and agricultural practices (β = − 0.132, p < 0.05). Besides, lack of stakeholder involvement and population settlement was the factor found to be significant β-value (β = 0.179 & Sig. = 0.007). Furthermore, there was a negative relationship between lack of community concern, illicit trafficking and promotion towards sustainable development, and natural catastrophes and agricultural practices with the predicted variable.

As far as this study was concerned, lack of community concern, illicit trafficking and lack of promotion towards sustainable tourism development with β = − 213; p. = 0.002 and natural catastrophes and agricultural practices in and around the cultural heritage with β = − 0.132; p = 0.026 were found to be significant challenges hindering the heritage conservation practices (see Table 11 ). This finding was confirmed by the previous studies that revealed air pollution; biological causes like invasive intervention, humidity and vandalism have negative consequences on the survival of heritage tourism. The present finding was also in line with the findings of Irandu and Shah [ 82 ] that portrayed the cultural heritage conservation of Kenya faced challenges such as funding, poor enactment of policies, land grabbing and lack of adequate trained personnel. Besides, another finding revealed that tackling the calamities of climate change mainly global warming and extreme weather events combined with the implementation of varied strategies to moderate the impact of a growing tourist demand towards heritage sites become the growing problem in the conservation efforts of cultural heritage conservation which supports the present finding [ 83 ]. This finding also revealed the land use issue is an emerging problem for conservation. Therefore, the present study underlines that effective planning, proper land use strategy and environmental conservation policies shall be enhanced by the local and national governments.

Unlike the present study, as noted in the work of Eken, Taşcı, and Gustafsson [ 16 ] public participation along with governmental strategies is vital to deciding preventive conservation. Their finding indicated that local communities have an awareness regarding the significance and preservation of the World Heritage Site of Visibility, but they were not adequately cognizant of the practical aspect of preservation. The other issues raised by the authors are difficulties concerning guidance and promotion of regular maintenance which is also similar to the present study. Besides, restoration works have been carried out without a detailed report of the current condition of the cultural heritage [ 16 ]. On the opposite, the interview was found in line with the aforementioned previous study revealing the disintegration of the heritage concerned authorities, the poor intervention of the government and inadequate collaboration of the local and regional governments with the local communities. Besides, the political implication of understanding the heritage also nailed our challenge in the conservation of cultural heritage. Similar to the present finding, the study scrutinized owing to conflicting claims, representations and discourse of urban heritages become contested [ 84 ]. Unlike the present finding, the study of Tweed and Sutherland [ 85 ] indicates that conserving heritage properties contributes to the sustainability of the built environment, and it is a crucial element of the cultural identity of the community which describes the character of a place.

Moreover, lack of stakeholder involvement and population settlement was identified as a significant challenge with β = 0.179; p = 0.007 in the present study. The previous findings revealed that the lack of collaborations to date in terms of managing the assets between the local authority and other stakeholders was found a significant challenge in cultural heritage conservation [ 86 ]. The findings of this study were supported by the findings of the previous study on the adaptation of land use for new purposes and functions, especially for the heritage buildings which demand new strategies for the indoor quality and efficiency of heritage for the new functional use was found the challenge that affects heritage conservation and management of heritage sites [ 83 ]. To overcome this problem, stakeholder collaboration and involvement, community empowerment and the adaptive reuse approach should be adopted that in turn increases the tourism demand and receipts which again escalate the multiplier effects within the industry combined with the job creation [ 87 ] and livelihood diversification through the enhancement of conservation enterprises around protected areas [ 88 ]. It is argued that cultural heritage sustainability relies on training and education that can produce competent human capital who are in charge of heritage protection and promotion [ 89 ]. The cultural heritage understudy is facing various natural and manmade problems which were verified by the interview made with officials of ARCCH who are working at the department of Heritage Restoration and Conservation (Personal communication, 21 June 2021) that revealed structural problems of the heritage authority from federal to the local level, lack of skilled manpower, and lack of clear proclamations and guidelines regarding private heritage conservation. This finding was supported by the technical aspects such as limited availability of experts (lack of skilled forces, absence of educational training for new skills, and lack of technical staff in the heritage maintenance team) and availability of original or authentic materials were the major constraints in conservation projects [ 90 ]. Besides, the interviewees added lack of sufficient funds for restoration and conservation and the difficulty of conservation of heritage in and nearby urban areas due to urbanization and urban renovation were significant challenges for conservation. In line with the interview, the findings of Dias Pereira et al. [ 83 ] pinpointed the conservation of cultural heritage and the maintenance of its original characteristics and identity which could have been exacerbated by the unavailability of raw materials for conservation. Moreover, the unavailability of raw materials for restoration and maintenance of heritage, and keeping authenticity was found a very serious problem in the applicability of cultural heritage conservation practices [ 91 ]. Besides, there is an increasing interest to replace old cultural heritage with modern buildings, and hiding movable heritage are problems in escalating conservation efforts. An ideal example is the church of Ankober Medahnealem Church where only remnants or ruins of buildings are visible and the historical ruins of old church was replaced with the new modern buildings. Generally, the finding of the present study indicates the various challenges that should be overcome to assure the sustainability of cultural heritage. This was also supported by the study of [ 85 ], whose heritage conservation theme encompasses technical, environmental, organizational, financial and human issues.

Practical implications

There should be a mechanism and plan to evaluate, follow up and supervise the conservation status of heritage side by side with the activities of heritage inventory made each year in each study area by the respective district. In this regard, it has been suggested that heritage sites shall receive an urgent response from the government in collaboration with the host community [ 92 ].

Appropriate guidelines for conservation should be developed based on research and scientific evidence to escalate the conservation practices. In line with this, to make the conservation effort effective, the right heritage management professionals and appropriate mapping guidelines should be hired to conduct the management of cultural heritage conservations and preservations [ 92 , 93 ].

Besides, conservation activities should be made through allocating sufficient budget, training, technical support and human resources equipped with the latest technology and required raw materials to keep the authenticity of the heritage.

Furthermore, heritage conservation funds should be organized institutionally and come into the practice to support conservation efforts. The local communities, the private travel and tourism organizations and government bodies should be engaged in the planning, execution and monitoring of the heritage conservation and renovation process. In addition, better platforms for stakeholder collaboration should be developed and management of conflict of interest threats should be seriously addressed. The study of Aas, Ladkin, and Fletcher [ 94 ] recommended that the function of involving the local communities and all other key stakeholders in decision making and the view of right participation which in turn can empower the stakeholders’ engagement in conservation activities [ 66 , 95 ].

Though there are a few attempts, especially at Angolela Kidanemihret Site at King Sahle Sellassie Palace and Goze Mosque, the practices of cultural heritage conservation were found to be very low which needs to be enhanced to assure the sustainability of cultural heritage. The finding of this study revealed that local communities feel as if the heritage belongs to them and consider it as part and parcel of their identity. However, conservation of activities was not based on research, conservation practices and the status of heritage follow-up are not made on regular basis and capacity buildings are not provided for the sustainable conservation of cultural heritage in the study areas.

Concerning the status and practice of cultural heritage conservation, lack of community concern, illicit trafficking and promotion of sustainable tourism development and natural catastrophes and agricultural practices in and around the cultural heritage were found to be significant factors affecting the heritage conservation practices in the study areas. Lack of stakeholder involvement and population settlement around the heritage sites were also identified as the challenges hindering the conservation of cultural heritage and their environs. On top of these, lack of government concern, community interest, lack of appropriate funding and skilled manpower were also found to be significant factors that hinder the practices of conservation of cultural heritage. Moreover, the structural weakness of the heritage-related government institutions and political implication of leaders and the urbanization and urban renovation programs added are exacerbating the existence and practices of cultural heritage conservation. From the findings of the present study, it can be understood that the conservation of cultural heritage is not an easy task which cannot be undertaken by a single actor such as the government or heritage destination managers. The multitude of the contribution of various relevant stakeholders is demanding to upscale the conservation efforts and grant sustainability of cultural heritage. The sustainable conservation of cultural heritage will also be important for the wise use of the heritage for many purposes such as a means for enhancing socio-cultural ties, building the image of a place or destination and fosters tourism development.

Generally, poor conservation practices of cultural heritage and insufficient commitment of concerned bodies to conserve cultural heritage exacerbated by various manmade and natural factors demand strong and vivid solutions to the problems to reverse the existing severe conditions of the cultural heritage. The present study revealed that the likelihood of cultural heritage conservation highly depends on not only man-made bottlenecks but also natural catastrophes such as flooding, climatic variations and invasive species. Thus, to improve the effective conservation and use of cultural heritage, especially in developing countries like Ethiopia, government and political leaders’ positive attitude and understanding of the relevance of cultural heritage to the society and the country at large should play a fundamental role in this regard. The improved view of the leaders toward cultural heritage has the potential to enhance funding possibilities and pave the way for a meaningful participation of stakeholders.

Moreover, the enhancement of conservation practices and sustainable use of cultural heritages should be supported through proper land use planning around heritage sites, preparation of heritage conservation plans and efficient heritage destination management. This tells us the practices of conservation efforts for cultural heritage and heritage sites demand the involvement of various actors from various sectors viz., tourism, agriculture, government administration bodies, religious and community institutions and heritage conservation organizations, environmentalists and development agencies to assure sustainability and community benefits from the heritage.

Furthermore, the conservation of cultural heritage shall be seen in a wider scope beyond the conservation of heritage property itself. It should include the vitality of cultural heritages for promotion of destination and country image, enhancement of socio-cultural bondage, and serving as a tool of economic integration through tourism. Therefore, a system of management of cultural heritage needs to be developed that takes significant issues and challenges into consideration through participatory decision-making process to optimize the values and sustainability of cultural heritage in Ethiopia.

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Abbreviations

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Acknowledgements

First of all, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Omnipotent God for the strength and determination to accomplish this academic research paper. Praise God! God Grace! The authors are really delighted to express sincere gratitude to Debre Berhan University, College of Social science and Research and Community Service Directorate for funding, duplicating questionnaire, writing letters to concerned offices and stakeholders during data collection. The authors are also indebted to all the respondents (local communities, culture and tourism offices, Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH), Angolola Seminesh Kedanemihiret Chruch, Goze and Koremash Mosque) who participated in the interview sessions and filling the questionnaire or survey. The authors are also very grateful to Dr. Lemma Demissie for his diligent editing and proofreading of the manuscript. The Authors would love to express their genuine thanks to Rashmi Jenna JEO Assistant of Heritage Science, Professor Richard Brereton, Editorial teams, and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Thank you all for your invaluable information, precious time, enthusiasm and cooperation.

This research received internal/ local funding from Debre Berhan University.

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Mekonnen, H., Bires, Z. & Berhanu, K. Practices and challenges of cultural heritage conservation in historical and religious heritage sites: evidence from North Shoa Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Herit Sci 10 , 172 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-022-00802-6

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Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) – A heritage science resource

Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) is a new online resource that shares strategies for teaching science in art conservation and related cultural heritage fields. An overview will be given of how undergraduate chemistry curricula in the United States have used examples from cultural heritage. The field of art conservation will then be described with an emphasis on the science curricula taught in art conservation programs around the world. Challenges include relating theoretical learning to real-world applications and teaching scientific terminology and concepts to students who may have limited science backgrounds; as well, there is a lack of textbooks and resources with appropriate case studies. The newly launched CSEO online resource offers freely available, effective teaching methods in the form of modules developed by international educators in the field. The inaugural CSEO Conference 2022 served as an introduction to the online resource for a global audience and was the first dedicated conference to bring together heritage science educators to discuss challenges and teaching strategies with the goal of building such a resource. The conference facilitated discussions among participants about teaching strategies, with the intention that these topics would become modules for the online resource, available to all science educators.

1 Introduction

This paper introduces the online resource Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) ( https://www.queensu.ca/art/art-conservation/conservation-science-education-online-cseo ) and the launching conference held in June 2022, both of which are committed to sharing ideas and teaching strategies among science educators across the globe in the field of cultural heritage. These educators teach in various fields including programs in conservation, archaeological sciences and technical art history (which fall under the umbrella of “heritage science” or the science of cultural heritage), as well as undergraduate chemistry departments and high schools. Background will first be given on the teaching of chemistry in undergraduate courses using art and cultural heritage in the US from the 1970s to the present, and the teaching of science in the field of art conservation.

People are fascinated by stories about cultural heritage. Such narratives are the perfect hook for educators, who can teach various aspects of science through the lens of technical investigation of cultural heritage. The detection of fakes and forgeries of paintings and sculptures may rely upon knowing which pigments were available to artists in specific periods, understanding their potential degradation mechanisms and choosing the appropriate analytical techniques for identification. Establishing the effect of relative humidity and temperature on material properties of panel paintings explains why controlling and monitoring the environment in museums is critical to ensuring the longevity of these objects. Studying the composition of modern plastic materials and how constituents may contribute to degradation gives insight into long-term preservation of modern art collections. These cross-disciplinary examples, drawn from cultural heritage, could be of interest to the budding engineer or chemist, but also to the non-scientist.

2 The science of cultural heritage in the curriculum of US undergraduate science courses

The use of art and cultural heritage in teaching US undergraduate chemistry dates to at least as early as Sister Mary Virginia Orna’s pioneering work in the late 1970s (and onwards) ( Orna, 1978 ) and two 1980 and 1981 journal issues dedicated to chemistry in art ( Sarquis, 1980 ; Sarquis, 1981 ). The development of these courses continued as an organized US national pedagogical movement originating in workshops funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in various forms between 1996 and 2017, initiated by Michael Henchman and Patricia Hill ( Henchman, 1994 ; Hill & Hark, 2003 ; Henchman, 2008 ). The early history of these developments and the evolution of the workshops have been previously outlined ( Hill & Simon, 2012 ; Hill et al., 2012 ). Later, advanced NSF undergraduate teaching workshops furthered US chemistry in art and archaeology pedagogical developments ( Hill et al., 2011 ). Pioneering mentorship programs, like the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Project MUSE: MUseum Sabbatical Experiences for Faculty Teaching at the Arts-Science Interface, offer undergraduate chemistry faculty sabbatical and summer research opportunities in conservation science labs ( Smith, 2019 ). Articles based on pedagogical research in art conservation graduate programs have been published in the Journal of Chemical Education on topics including chromatography ( Alcántara-García & Szelewski, 2016 ), polymers ( Alcántara-García & Ploeger, 2018 ) and differential scanning calorimetry ( Ploeger, 2018 ). This journal has published many articles on the chemistry of art ( Del Federico et al., 2013 ; Duncan et al., 2010 ; Greenberg, 1988 ; Mabrouk, 2022 ; Marine, 2013 ; Nivens et al., 2010 ; Ogren & Bunge, 1971 ; Schrenk et al., 1993 ; Vyhnal et al., 2020 ; Wells & Haaf, 2013 ).

It was recognized at least as early as the mid-1990s that US students would benefit significantly from intentional incorporation of international practices and developments into the undergraduate pedagogy ( Uffelman, 2007a ; Uffelman, 2007b ). Uffelman’s work explicitly and deeply embedded study abroad and art conservation into these considerations, and expanded the range of topics in undergraduate “science in art” courses ( Uffelman, 2011 ). Subsequent incorporation of portable instrumentation into the study-abroad programs fused scientific research and cultural heritage ( Uffelman et al., 2014 ). These innovations became part of the introductory NSF workshops from 2006 until they ended in 2017. There have been many notable contributions to the interface of study abroad, research and pedagogy ( Bradley & Mackie, 2021 ; Fieberg, 2010 , 2021 ; Marine, 2013 ; Smieja et al., 2010 ) and these have influenced the NSF chemistry-in-art community of scholars in general.

The NSF-funded workshops generated numerous American Chemical Society (ACS) National and Regional Meeting symposia as well as similar sessions in meetings of the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE), many yielding publications. Because this topic is not the focus of this paper, the reader is referred to two of the more substantial publications (and the references therein) that were engendered by the NSF workshop efforts and spinoffs: the ACS Symposium Series books published in 2012 ( Lang & Armitage, 2012 ) and 2021 ( Braun & Labby, 2021 ).

Given that over 20 years of US NSF funding generated a group in excess of 400 faculty dedicated to teaching chemistry and art and archaeology, the authors suggest that this paper and the accompanying resource will have interest well beyond the conservation community, and hope, in turn, that some of the work pioneered by undergraduate chemistry faculty will see use by the conservation pedagogy community. In particular, US undergraduate science faculty will benefit greatly from the significant expansion of international viewpoints and teaching resources made possible by the initiatives described in this paper.

3 Scientific topics taught in conservation programs

When students embark on a career in conservation, they may not be aware that caring for heritage requires significant knowledge of materials science. All materials come from something that was mined, synthesized or grown, and many materials are inherently unstable. A conservator’s job is to study the impact of these natural processes on the objects being looked after and to assess and predict the effects of the materials being introduced during treatments. This is only possible if the chemical and physical processes at work are understood. For conservation students, and particularly those whose training is in the humanities, the scientific components that are part of conservation training can be daunting. In fact, many of those who consider applying for art conservation as a possible higher education option abandon the idea, fearing the science requirements. A student’s inherent hesitancy can be overcome by introducing the scientific concepts in an applied fashion. Typically, conservation students tend to understand the world in a visual way. Providing the practical applications of scientific concepts develops the neural networks to link the theory to existing knowledge.

The following statement from the International Council of Museums – Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC), the largest international organisation of conservator-restorers and conservation scientists, describes the activities of the conservator in this way ( 1984 ):

The activity of the conservator-restorer (conservation) consists of technical examination, preservation, and conservation-restoration of cultural property: Examination is the preliminary procedure taken to determine the documentary significance of an artefact; original structure and materials; the extent of its deterioration, alteration, and loss; and the documentation of these findings. Preservation is action taken to retard or prevent deterioration of or damage to cultural properties by control of their environment and/or treatment of their structure in order to maintain them as nearly as possible in an unchanging state. Restoration is action taken to make a deteriorated or damaged artefact understandable, with minimal sacrifice of aesthetic and historic integrity.

To succeed in this endeavour, conservators must link hand skills and artistic abilities with ethical reflection and decision-making based on an understanding and appreciation of history, as well as being capable practitioners of science. The term “three-legged stool,” first applied by Harvard conservator George Stout to the field of art conservation to describe the collaboration among scientists, conservators, and art historians ( Chase & Hill Stoner, 1975 ), is often used to refer to the diverse and over-arching qualities conservators need for success ( Whitmore et al., 2005 ). Indeed, many conservation programs internationally are based on curricula involving science, conservation and art history. More and more conservators want to include local communities and the public in conservation decision-making, whereupon the stool becomes four-legged: conservators, scientists, art historians (or archaeologists), and the users.

Science is a central part of curricula internationally, even if the distribution and focus of pure and applied science courses vary widely. One of the pioneers of science education in conservation, Agnes Timár-Balázsy, wrote in 1986 that programs should “educate [students] to be able to form their questions to the chemists, to work together with scientists, [and] to follow the chemical backgrounds of conservation methods written in special literature … ” ( Timár-Balázsy, 1986 ). Table 1 shows scientific topics that students need to learn, from both theoretical and hands-on points of view (Murray et al., 2017). During most formal conservation training for an MA degree, students study applied and theoretical science related to the analysis of materials, the solubility of adhesives and varnishes, and the degradation of materials. These topics also play an essential role in studio and field work, as does the application of science during final year dissertation projects. Within the European context, the European Network for Conservation-Restoration Education (ENCoRE) recognizes chemistry, physics, biology, earth sciences, processes of degradation, and environment (including climate, lighting, and security) as “essential to any conservation syllabus” ( ENCoRE, 2001 ), without quantifying credits for curricula. This statement reflects the current education of conservators, even if this approach is also criticized by some ( Muñoz Viñas, 2022 ). Muñoz Viñas puts forward the importance of the tacit skills, knowledge and intuition that conservators need when treating objects and feels this aspect has been overshadowed by conservation science.

Examples of scientific topics conservation students need to learn.

As can be seen, many scientific areas relate to conservation practice and thus need to be taught and the list of such areas grows longer with advances in the field, for instance, digital imaging, scanning, and modelling. In addition, teaching scientific principles to conservators encompasses vast ranges of inorganic and organic materials, from ancient ores to modern polymers. Keeping up to date can be challenging to both educators and students. The time on these topics must also be balanced with the other critical components of art conservation programs such as decision making and hand skills development.

4 Conservation programs and the science prerequisites

At this time, conservation is a discipline of higher education and includes the possible degree levels of bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD. Training in conservation internationally varies greatly. Much of Europe follows the Bologna model of a three-year undergraduate degree in conservation and a two-year specialization ( https://encore-edu.org/ ), which is in line with the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers Organisations (E.C.C.O.) recommendations, and establishes access to the profession with a master’s or level 7 in the European Qualification Framework ( https://www.ecco-eu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ECCO_Competences_EN.pdf ).

Other countries also have undergraduate and master’s programs; this is true for some countries in South America, such as Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina. Conservation programs in China (for example at Beijing University and Northwest University) are mostly four-year undergraduate degrees in conservation followed by a three-year master’s degree in scientific research in conservation or in conservation practice. In contrast, conservation is mostly studied at the postgraduate master’s level in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, India, South Africa, and North America. In these regions, most students who train as conservators already have undergraduate degrees in a wide range of fields including art history, studio art, archaeology, historical and heritage studies, curatorship, museum studies, tourism, sciences, or engineering.

The amount of chemistry required for entry into conservation programs around the world varies from no science, to pre-university level, to several university-level chemistry courses. Many of the students in the master’s programs in China and India have a science background. In India, every student studies mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology for up to 15 years of education, and therefore, while applicants to conservation courses may have pursued humanities at the undergraduate level, they are able to pick up the science they need with some guidance and revision of their school textbooks. While in the past basic science was taught as a module or part of diploma courses in the UK, another approach has recently been adopted at The Courtauld Institute of Art ( Sperber and Burnstock, 2023 ); from 2022, students must pass an exam prior to enrollment demonstrating basic knowledge of general and organic chemistry (between European Qualifications Framework [EQF] level 4 and 5). A similar approach is used in Amsterdam, where students can enter the program only with an EQF level 4. Some US programs are altering their prerequisite requirements in order to increase diversity and access.

The Conservation Science Training and Research Program (CoSTAR), a collaboration between Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University and CSMVS Museum Mumbai was developed over a pilot three-year period straddling the COVID-19 pandemic. The program engaged with over 150 professionals and created “student teams” comprising scientists, conservators, art historians, fine artists, curators, architects and others in order to achieve learning through peer engagement. One of the first exercises in this, suggested by Dr. Narayan Khandekar, Director of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard University, was to “form the questions,” not just in chemistry, but also in the humanities, thus breaking siloed thinking and providing practice for both students and educators.

5 The background and role of conservation science educators

Educators teaching conservation treatment and conservation science support conservation students as they learn the scientific aspects of the field. Conservation science educators come from a variety of academic backgrounds and have narrowed their area of research, for example to chemistry, material science, polymer science, analytical chemistry, conservation or archaeological science, in order to be qualified to teach in a conservation program. Often these educators have not been trained as conservators nor have they necessarily had direct experience working with art; they may never have conserved a painting or an archaeological object. The relevance of exchange and collaboration with scientists without a conservation background was evident in a series of conservation training programs conducted as part of the 2018–2023 phase of the Tata Trusts Art Conservation Initiative implemented in India. Along with experienced trainers, new experts were identified to increase the resource bank of conservation educators in India. Most of these expert scientists from premier material science institutions had never applied their learning to museum environments or art conservation applications, and as broad-minded educators they were fascinated by the new vista.

As teachers in conservation programs, scientists not only need to share their expertise in certain scientific areas but are required to understand, teach, and answer questions related to the practical application of science to conservation treatments. Moreover, there are very few dedicated textbooks or educational materials available to assist them. Another challenge for conservation science educators is that new students have a wide range of scientific backgrounds, and learning curves can be very varied and rather steep for some. The CSEO online resource was created to address these challenges in the field by building a community and facilitating learning from others.

6 Research into the challenges of teaching science to conservators

Foundational work for the CSEO online resource was accomplished using threshold concepts ( Murray & Biggs, 2021 ; Murray & Biggs, 2023 ; Murray et al., 2017 ), a framework first proposed by Meyer and Land (2003) and applied successfully in many fields such as medicine, science, humanities and engineering. A number of articles have been written on threshold concepts in chemistry ( Claus et al., 2023 ; Kaiser, 2018 ; Meltafina, 2019 ; Park & Light, 2009 ; Talanquer, 2015 ; Timofte, 2015 ; Ulfa, 2020 ; Wiji et.al., 2021 ; Wiji & Mulyani, 2018 ). Threshold concepts are defined as being challenging, transformative, integrative, irreversible, and “bounded” (i.e., delineating conceptual areas). Investigating threshold concepts can lead to an improved curriculum, helping to identify why certain topics are challenging, what teaching strategies work well and what new tools should be developed to tackle teaching challenges. Applying the framework of threshold concepts therefore helped to identify useful content for the CSEO resource.

Murray and her colleagues set up a research initiative to interview conservation science and conservation treatment educators, as well as conservators at various stages of their careers. In addition, conservators were surveyed at the annual conference of the Canadian Association for Conservation (CAC) in 2018. The interview and survey questions used the framework of threshold concepts. The interviews were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. Murray and Biggs (2023) give an overview of these research methods.

Figure 1 shows what scientific concepts the surveyed conservators found to be particularly difficult to learn but were also especially useful in their work as conservators. The threshold concepts as determined by the interviews and survey were found to be concentrated in four general areas: instrumental analysis, properties of materials, aspects of general chemistry, and solvents and solubility. The discussion and thematic analysis provided information regarding the specific challenges in teaching science to conservators. The first overarching theme was the “implications for students with limited science backgrounds ”; this showed that the variety of prior scientific knowledge of conservation students in education programs could be a barrier to their learning. Many remain ill at ease with science throughout their careers. Some conservators had difficulties in interpreting equations and graphs, as well as in visualizing abstract chemical and physical concepts.

Difficult and useful scientific concepts for conservators based on a survey of 82 conservators at the Canadian Association for Conservation (CAC) 2018 Conference. These results were first published in a different format in Murray, A. & Biggs, K. (2021). Science in the Art Conservation Curriculum II: Views of Conservators. In Transcending Boundaries: Integrated Approaches to Conservation. ICOM - CC 19th Triennial Conference Preprints, Beijing, China . ed. J. Bridgland. Paris: International Council of Museums.

The second main theme arising from the interviews was the challenge of “bridging the gap between theory and treatment.” Solubility was given as the number one most difficult but important topic in the CAC conference survey, reflecting what is well recognized in chemistry as one of the most difficult topics to teach and learn ( Pinarbasi and Canpolat, 2003 ). One conservator understood the science part of solubility, “but it doesn’t really click until you’re working on it. Physically doing something makes understanding memorable and more enriching.” This point is supported by Caple, who found that those choosing careers in conservation say they learn best through tactile experiences ( Caple, 2012 ).

The third theme from the interviews was “learning to work with scientists,” which was noted to be critical for conservators’ understanding of analytical techniques and their limitations. This included learning to formulate questions that scientists can help answer and working with experts on interpretation. Also, the language of science had to be introduced to many conservation students, as, of course, the language of the arts has to be introduced to the science educators.

The fourth and final theme, “the realities of applying science in conservation,” recognized the importance of understanding that simplified traditional scientific teaching models are not always easy to relate to the complexities of working on actual art objects.

7 Introduction to the resource “Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO)”

Some universal issues raised above illustrate the need for a mechanism to support educators: a resource that provides information to aid in teaching challenging scientific concepts that can be difficult for students to comprehend or for educators to communicate. The CSEO platform aims to offer such support. It consists of modules designed by educators who have already used them successfully. A module might be an application, a case study, a collection of infographics, or a problem-based learning method that shows how a certain concept or theory relates to the real-life scenarios a conservator may encounter. Another module could illustrate how a collaborative strategy can make a class or assignment more engaging. The resource is being designed collegially by educators with different experiences and backgrounds. CSEO will open new teaching avenues for educators, instead of each needing to devote time to reinventing teaching plans. Finding efficient and effective ways of teaching could also permit more time for students to be in the treatment lab, developing decision making and hand skills. This resource is accessible not only by conservation science and conservation treatment professors, but also by teachers in mainstream chemistry, physics, biology and engineering in high school, college or university. The main goals of CSEO are to offer education support and promote collaboration, outreach, and discussion with educators across the globe.

Modules within the online resource are broken down into sections that depend on the specific content of the module as shown in Table 2 . The modules in this resource address specific topics and recognize different levels of education in conservation students from around the world. The modules highlight different resources and variables to promote adaptability. Modules will be updated according to their continuing evolution, based on the growing relevant literature, and discussion and feedback in the comments section. The resource is meant not only to recognize effective learning but also difficulties, challenges and even valuable failures and how to learn from them. Individual modules will include citation recommendations, ensuring that creators are recognized for their contributions. Modules are reviewed by an international editorial board before publication on the resource. This platform and the related conference discussed in the next section are the first efforts in a very much needed re-direction of heritage science pedagogy, which has changed a great deal since the first conservation programs were established in the 1950s, 70 years ago. ICOM-CC continues to have a working group on Education and Training in Conservation as well as interim meetings on this topic. More art conservation conferences are starting to include themes of education in general.

Content of modules in the Conservation Science Education Online Resource.

8 Inaugural CSEO Conference 2022

In June 2022, a three-day online conference was held to promote the resource ( https://www.queensu.ca/art/conservation-science-education-online-inaugural-conference ). Before the conference, eight invited lecturers and 18 posters presenters from around the globe pre-recorded talks that were made available to attendees. The conference itself was devoted to moderated discussions among the speakers, facilitators, and conference attendees.

Many relevant topics were presented ( Table 3 ), including teaching science using Indigenous philosophies and applications and employing social media to engage students in science learning. A portion of the conference was reserved for a breakout session where speakers and attendees could discuss their teaching challenges and share their own successful strategies. The goal of the conference was not only to draw attention to the CSEO platform, but also to help educators improve science curricula for conservation students around the world by creating a space to foster open discussion and share experiences and ideas, as well as incorporating some of the topics presented at the conference into future modules.

Session topics, speakers, and moderators of the Inaugural Conservation Science Education Online Conference, June 14–16, 2022.

The 300 people registered to attend the conference spanned numerous professions and areas of interest, with 58 countries represented among speakers and attendees ( Figure 2 ). The average attendance for each day of the conference was approximately 50 to 100 people. Most participants came from the conservation field, either as part of training programs (conservation science and treatment educators) or from cultural heritage institutions, but attendees also included collections managers and heritage site custodians. Others were chemistry teachers at universities and high schools with no official affiliation to cultural heritage other than a keen interest in using the topic in their teaching. Finally, some current students and recent graduates from conservation and science programs were also included. By the end of the conference, the video recordings of the talks had been viewed a total of 3000 times. The conference concluded with remarks on the themes brought up during the conference and a call for new contributors and for international representatives to join the CSEO team and organize future conferences.

Global distribution of speakers and attendees of the Inaugural Conservation Science Education Online Conference, June 14-16, 2022.

9 Themes from the inaugural CSEO Conference 2022

Most educators agreed that some areas of knowledge are challenging to convey to students in a tangible way, as confirmed by the results from the interviews and survey discussed earlier. Many reported struggling to find how to engage students in learning theoretically challenging concepts. Most talks centred on applied and practical teaching strategies that involved students with hands-on lessons, making use of demonstrations, didactics and various media. Speakers concluded that such efforts led students to be more knowledgeable, confident, resilient and less fearful of science.

Building student confidence was often cited as a main goal of the educators. Because, as mentioned earlier, many students come from the humanities and have limited science education, educators at the conference brought up the importance of developing student assurance as a gateway to successful scientific education. These challenges are also found in teaching science in non-heritage fields. It is hoped that those in such fields will find the CSEO resource equally helpful.

Several larger themes became apparent from the discussions:

9.1 The need for scientific literacy and skills

Many remarked that scientific language can be difficult to understand and may alienate those entering the field, contributing to the lack of confidence observed by educators. Math and physics were cited as difficult, as were terminology and equations. The scientific method relies upon documentation, but conference speakers from many parts of the world mentioned that students were hesitant to record findings and instrumental parameters during their labs. Here it could be mentioned that some Indigenous students whose parents and grandparents suffered in Canadian residential schools think that science and mathematics curricula still contain attributes of colonialism. This concern is based on the many years of the negative experience of Indigenous people and needs to be studied not only as an academic or educational problem ( Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2015 ), which Sardarli also reports. It has to be noted that Canadian academic society is aware of this problem and educators, along with governmental institutions, are willing to improve the existing curricula of various levels based on holism principles.

The speakers suggested skills for students to be taught, including how to formulate a hypothesis and test it using experiments; becoming comfortable using scientific terminology when communicating with scientists; and the importance of reading scientific papers, even if students only partly understand the research. Scientific literacy could be encouraged by providing relevant examples and explaining concepts in layman’s terms, using glossaries built by the community. The importance of developing common terminologies acceptable to communities was also emphasized. Simulations and animations were put forward as ways to make the science more accessible. Another presenter described having students carry out a survey and then apply the appropriate statistical method. Speakers also underlined the importance of managing expectations by, for example, explaining that scientists and engineers have spent years mastering the underlying theory which cannot necessarily be completely transferred to people coming from other fields. This reflects the need for collaboration between specialisms in conservation practice. The science content in a conservation course transfers the scientific terminology and concepts that enable conservators to understand the materials and treatments with which they work; a comprehensive understanding of the scientific topic may not be necessary. It is a privilege for educators to work with these students who welcome this introduction to science.

9.2 Benefits of using case studies and stories

Many speakers found that teaching with case studies or stories helped students (for example in conservation, art history, science or education) to connect theory to practice. Examples included giving the context or “discovery story” for unknown pigments in order to solidify ideas learnt in microscopy; developing an object-based course through collaboration between a museum and university; or using actual data sets from X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy of a painting to explain the technique. One presenter suggested starting a class with a conservation problem or application and only then giving the background scientific theory, grounding the scientific concept in its application to art or cultural objects.

9.3 Theory to practice and hand skills

The importance of hand skills in the scientific training of conservators was identified as a key theme. In order to learn, conservation students need hands-on experience. Observing materials through all their senses can help overcome any fear of science that students have. They also need to apply the theory learnt in class to their work on actual objects, and draw on their understanding of concepts such as solubility when removing varnish or applying adhesives. The possibility of being hands-on was missing from many programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though participating educators developed innovative strategies to deal with this challenge, the need to incorporate more hands-on experience within the science curriculum was emphasized.

9.4 The importance of open communication and collaboration

Presenters stressed that it was critical for students to communicate with each other, learn from each other through group work, and use peer-to-peer instruction and presentations. Teachers should be open about what they know and do not know. The desire for worldwide communication and collaboration between educators was a prevailing theme. Though coming from different cultural backgrounds, presenters had dynamic discussions. In spite of some common ground, there were also many differences in approaches. Presenters and participants were eager to explore these and to incorporate them into their own teaching. It was pointed out that Indigenous students consider artifacts not just as objects of study, but as part of their belief systems, which raises additional questions related to ethics and cultural sensitivity in the training of conservators or the presentation of conservation education to more general student audiences. Based on this, it is important to convey in teaching the skills to develop trust, respect, and open communication when collaborating with other communities. Similarly, it is important to convey that not all collaborations can be approached the same way or might not be possible: each community is sovereign in its own decisions. For example Sardali and his colleagues discussed this in conversations with Elders ( Sardarli et al., 2022 ).

9.5 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education

The ramifications of COVID-19 were central to many of the presentations and resulting discussions. Numerous speakers addressed the difficulties of teaching during the pandemic, specifically having to adopt a virtual education model where application-based learning in the laboratory was often near-impossible. From these difficulties, however, came innovative teaching strategies that not only conveyed the necessary information, but resulted in new ways of engaging students. Examples were the creation of interactive group-based literature studies as an alternative for carrying out a scientific study and another was incorporating social media in the lesson plan. CoSTAR decentralized its practical training by partnering with institutions across the Indian subcontinent through hybrid engagement. Other programs did the same in various regions. Educators were also challenged to find innovative ways to demonstrate practical science skills online, for instance by using handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and recording this for students, giving them access to the software and the raw data, and then recapping the findings together. Students were said to become more self-directed and confident when working on their own. Losses from not being in the lab were replaced by in-depth classes that also had the advantage of online guest experts. However, a downside to the online and at-home instruction was a widely reported reduction in preparation among new students. Already shaky foundations in science and math were exacerbated by the pandemic and will require extra attention and repair in future.

10 Conclusions

Three hundred registrations were garnered for the inaugural CSEO conference, involving people with geographical and cultural distribution across 58 nations, and with over 3000 views of the conference talks. This illustrates that, first, the core group of heritage science educators is committed to finding answers to specific questions, and second, an interested group of stakeholders are looking forward to tangible education support, discussion, and collaboration with educators around the globe. Aspects such as the rising use of technology, the increasing scientific component in conservation practice, ethical concerns, and geographical and cultural trends are constantly evolving and education and training programs have to be always adapting. Opening a channel for educators through this resource will facilitate such organic processes. The CSEO exercise has precipitated a thoughtful revisit to the pedagogical systems at a time when the need for cooperative revitalization is becoming especially clear. If this is any indication, then the CSEO conference has successfully implemented an effective Training Needs Assessment that confirms the value of the new CSEO global forum of heritage science educators. This is not just a place to exchange strategies for successful teaching of various scientific concepts, but also to serve as a resource bank offering modules for reference by educators everywhere. If effectively implemented and sustained, this forum could serve as an exemplar for other science teaching communities who wish to initiate similar pedagogical initiatives.

Educators identified overarching themes such as the need for scientific literacy and skills, use of case studies, emphasis on hands-on transmission of knowledge linked to scientific theory, and breaking silos to achieve strength in collaboration. There is apparent consensus on a universal set of educational challenges that conservation science educators worldwide aim to overcome, allowing for diverse cultural perspectives.

While highlighting the importance of science to cultural heritage education, training, and practice, the CSEO initiative also places onus on the conservation science community to communicate effectively with non-science cultural heritage professionals. Science curricula for conservation science education are now being re-imagined and the opportunities presented by the CSEO initiative augur well for a groundbreaking future. The fact that the resources envisioned would be works in progress, democratic and adaptable, only adds to the appeal and relevance of the CSEO online resource, to which the authors of this article invite all interested parties to contribute.

Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

Research funding: None declared.

Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.

Abbreviations

American Chemical Society

Biennial Conference on Chemical Education

Canadian Association for Conservation of Cultural Property

Conservation Science Education Online

Conservation Science Training and Research Program

European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers Organisations

European Network for Conservation-Restoration Education

European Qualifications Framework

International Council of Museums – Committee for Conservation

National Science Foundation

volatile organic compounds

X-ray fluorescence

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• Description

Inextricably linked to all the most important historical and political events in Russia since the 13th century, the Kremlin (built between the 14th and 17th centuries by outstanding Russian and foreign architects) was the residence of the Great Prince and also a religious centre. At the foot of its ramparts, on Red Square, St Basil's Basilica is one of the most beautiful Russian Orthodox monuments.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Le Kremlin et la place Rouge, Moscou

Indissolublement lié à tous les événements historiques et politiques les plus importants survenus en Russie depuis le XIII e siècle, le Kremlin a été construit entre le XIV e et le XVII e siècle par des architectes russes et étrangers exceptionnels. C'était la résidence du grand-prince ainsi qu'un centre religieux. Au pied de ses remparts, sur la place Rouge, s'élève la basilique Basile-le-Bienheureux, l'un des plus beaux monuments de l'art orthodoxe.

الكرملين والساحة الحمراء، موسكو

يرتبط الكرملين ارتباطاً وثيقاً بجميع الأحداث التاريخيّة والسياسيّة المهمّة التي توالت على روسيا منذ القرن الثالث عشر ولقد جرى تشييده بين القرنين الرابع والسابع عشر على يد مهندسين روس وأجانب استثنائيين. وكان الكرملين مقرّ الأمير الكبير كما كان مركزاً دينيّاً. عند أسفل أسواره في الساحة الحمراء شيدت بازيليك القديس بازيل وهي من أروع تحف الفنّ الأرثوذكسي.

source: UNESCO/CPE Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

莫斯科克里姆林宫和红场

由俄罗斯和外国建筑家于14世纪至17世纪共同修建的克里姆林宫，作为沙皇的住宅和宗教中心，与13世纪以来俄罗斯所有最重要的历史事件和政治事件密不可分。在红场上防御城墙的脚下坐落的圣瓦西里教堂是俄罗斯传统艺术最漂亮的代表作之一。

El kremlin y la Plaza Roja de Moscú

Indisolublemente vinculado a los más trascendentales acontecimientos históricos y políticos de Rusia desde el siglo XIII, el kremlin de Moscú fue construido entre los siglos XIV y XVII por toda una serie de excelentes arquitectos rusos y extranjeros. Además de ser la residencia del Gran Príncipe, fue un importante centro religioso. Al pie de sus murallas, en la Plaza Roja, se alza la basílica de San Basilio el Bienaventurado, uno de los más hermosos monumentos de arte ortodoxo.

モスクワのクレムリンと赤の広場

source: NFUAJ

Kremlin en Rode Plein, Moskou

Het Kremlin is onlosmakelijk verbonden met alle belangrijke historische en politieke gebeurtenissen in Rusland sinds de 13e eeuw. Het werd door de Grote Prins Yuri van Kiev gesticht als residentie en religieus centrum. De bouw vond plaats tussen de 14e en 17e eeuw en het ontwerp was in handen van uitstekende Russische en buitenlandse architecten. Binnen de muren van het Kremlin vindt men een reeks meesterwerken qua architectuur, maar ook beeldende kunst en religieuze monumenten van uitzonderlijke schoonheid. Aan de voet van de stadsmuren, op het Rode Plein, bevindt zich een van de mooiste Russisch-orthodoxe monumenten, de Pokrovkathedraal ook wel Basiliuskathedraal genoemd.

Source: unesco.nl

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

At the geographic and historic centre of Moscow, the Moscow Kremlin is the oldest part of the city. First mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in 1147 as a fortification erected on the left bank of the Moskva river by Yuri Dolgoruki, Prince of Suzdal, the Kremlin developed and grew with settlements and suburbs which were further surrounded by new fortifications - Kitaigorodsky Wall, Bely Gorod, Zemlyanoy Gorod and others. This determined a radial and circular plan of the centre of Moscow typical of many other Old Russian cities.

In 13th century the Kremlin was the official residence of supreme power - the center of temporal and spiritual life of the state. The Kremlin of the late 15th – early 16th century is one of the major fortifications of Europe (the stone walls and towers of present day were erected in 1485–1516). It contains an ensemble of monuments of outstanding quality.

The most significant churches of the Moscow Kremlin are situated on the Cathedral Square; they are the Cathedral of the Dormition, Church of the Archangel, Church of the Annunciation and the bell tower of Ivan Veliki. Almost all of them were designed by invited Italian architects which is clearly seen in their architectural style. The five-domed Assumption Cathedral (1475–1479) was built by an Italian architect Aristotele Fiorvanti. Its interior is decorated with frescos and a five-tier iconostasis (15th–17th century). The cathedral became the major Russian Orthodox church; a wedding and coronation place for great princes, tsars and emperors as well as the shrine for metropolitans and patriarchs.

In the same square another Italian architect, Alevisio Novi, erected the five-domed Church of the Archangel in 1505-1508. From the 17th to 19th century, its interior was decorated by wonderful frescos and an iconostasis. In this church many great princes and tsars of Moscow are buried. Among them are Ivan I Kalita, Dmitri Donskoi, Ivan III, Ivan IV the Terrible, Mikhail Fedorovich and Alexei Mikhailovich Romanovs.

The Cathedral of the Dormition was built by Pskov architects in 1484–1489. Inside the cathedral some mural paintings of 16th–19th century have been preserved and the icons of Andrei Rublev and Theophanes the Greek are part of the iconostasis.

In 1505-1508 the bell tower of Ivan Veliki was built. Being 82 metres high it was the highest building in Russia which became the focal point of the Kremlin ensemble.

Among the oldest civil buildings of the Moscow Kremlin, the Palace of the Facets (1487–1491) is the most remarkable. Italian architects Marco Fryazin and Pietro Antonio Solario built it as a great hall for holding state ceremonies, celebrations and for receiving foreign ambassadors. The most noteworthy civil construction of the 17th century built by Russian masters is the Teremnoi Palace.

From the early 18th century, when the capital of Russia moved to St. Petersburg, the Kremlin mainly played a ceremonial role with religious functions. By the end of the century the architectural complex of the Kremlin expanded with the Arsenal reconstructed after the Fire of 1797 by Matvei Kazakov. The Senate was built in 1776–1787 according to the plans of the same architect as the home of the highest agency of State power of the Russian Empire - the Ruling Senate. Today it is the residence of the President of Russia.

From 1839 to 1849 a Russian architect K.A. Thon erected the Great Kremlin Palace as a residence of the imperial family which combined ancient Kremlin buildings such as the Palace of the Facets, the Tsarina’s Golden Chamber, Master Chambers, the Teremnoi Palace and the Teremnoi churches. In the Armory Chamber built by K.A. Thon within the complex of the Great Kremlin Palace, there is a 16th century museum officially established by the order of Alexander I in 1806.

Red Square, closely associated with the Kremlin, lies beneath its east wall. At its south end is the famous Pokrovski Cathedral (Cathedral of St Basil the Blessed), one of the most beautiful monuments of Old Russian church architecture, erected in 1555–1560 to commemorate the victory of Ivan the Terrible over the Kazan Khanate. In the 17th century the cathedral gained its up-to-date appearance thanks to the decorative finishing of the domes and painting both inside and outside the cathedral. The construction of Red Square was finished by the late 19th century together with the erection of the Imperial Historic Museum (today the State Historical Museum), the Upper Trading Rows (GUM) and the Middle Trading Rows. In 1929, , Lenin’s Mausoleum, designed by A.V. Shchusev and an outstanding example of the Soviet monumental architecture, was finished.

Criterion (i) : The Kremlin contains within its walls a unique series of masterpieces of architecture and the plastic arts. There are religious monuments of exceptional beauty such as the Church of the Annunciation, the Cathedral of the Dormition, the Church of the Archangel and the bell tower of Ivan Veliki; there are palaces such as the Great Palace of the Kremlin, which comprises within its walls the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Teremnoi Palace. On Red Square is Saint Basil the Blessed, still a major edifice of Russian Orthodox art.

Criterion (ii) : Throughout its history, Russian architecture has clearly been affected many times by influences emanating from the Kremlin. A particular example was the Italian Renaissance. The influence of the style was clearly felt when Rudolfo Aristotele Fioravanti built the Cathedral of the Dormition (1475-79) and grew stronger with the construction of the Granovitaya Palace (Hall of the Facets, 1487-91) by Marco Fryazin and Pietro Antonio Solario. Italian Renaissance also influenced the towers of the fortified enceinte, built during the same period by Solario, using principles established by Milanese engineers (the Nikolskaya and the Spasskaya Towers both date from 1491). The Renaissance expression was even more present in the classic capitals and shells of the Church of the Archangel, reconstructed from 1505 to 1509 by Alevisio Novi.

Criterion (iv) : With its triangular enceinte pierced by four gates and reinforced with 20 towers, the Moscow Kremlin preserves the memory of the wooden fortifications erected by Yuri Dolgoruki around 1156 on the hill at the confluence of the Moskova and Neglinnaya rivers (the Alexander Garden now covers the latter). By its layout and its history of transformations (in the 14th century Dimitri Donskoi had an enceinte of logs built, then the first stone wall), the Moscow Kremlin is the prototype of a Kremlin - the citadel at the centre of Old Russian towns such as Pskov, Tula, Kazan or Smolensk.

Criterion (vi) : From the 13th century to the founding of St Petersburg, the Moscow Kremlin was directly and tangibly associated with every major event in Russian history. A 200-year period of obscurity ended in 1918 when it became the seat of government again. The Mausoleum of Lenin on Red Square is the Soviet Union’s prime example of symbolic monumental architecture. To proclaim the universal significance of the Russian revolution, the funerary urns of heroes of the revolution were incorporated into the Kremlin’s walls between the Nikolskaya and Spasskaya towers. The site thus combines in an exceptional manner the preserved vestiges of bygone days with present-day signs of one of the greatest events in modern history.

From the date of including the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square on the World Heritage List all the components representing the Outstanding Universal Value of the property are within its boundaries. The territory and the integrity of the World Heritage property have also remained unchanged. Within its boundaries the property still comprises all the elements that it contained at the date of nomination. The biggest threat, however, is unregulated commercial development of the adjacent areas.

Authenticity

The history of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square is reflected in the archival documents of 12th–19th century, for example in medieval chronicles, cadastral surveys, estimated construction books, painted lists, inventories, foreign notes and in graphic matters such as manuscripts, chronicles, plans, drafts, engravings, lithographs, sketches of foreign travelers, paintings and photographs. These documents are exceptionally valuable information sources. Comparison of the data received from archival documents and those obtained in the process of field study gives the idea of authenticity of  the property and its different elements. This comparison also serves as the basis for project development and for the choice of the appropriate methods of restoration that may preserve the monuments’ authenticity.

On the border of the ensemble a number of monuments destroyed in the 1930s were reconstructed according to measured plans.

Protection and management requirements

The statutory and institutional framework of an effective protection, management and improvement of the World Heritage property “Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow” has been established by laws and regulations of the Russian Federation and the city of Moscow.

According to the decree of the President of RSFSR of 18 December 1991 № 294, the Moscow Kremlin was included among especially protected cultural properties of nations of Russia - the highest conservation status for cultural and historical monuments in Russian legislation.

“Kremlin and Red Square, Moscow” is a Cultural Heritage Site of federal importance. State protection and management of federal sites is provided by Federal Law of 25.06.2002 № 73-FZ “On cultural heritage sites (historical and cultural monuments) of nations of the Russian Federation”. The federal executive body responsible for protection of the cultural property is the Department for Control, Supervision and Licensing in the Cultural Heritage Sphere of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.It is in charge of all methodological and control functions concerning restoration, usage and support of cultural heritage sites and the territories connected.

The World Heritage property is situated in the urban environment of Moscow. The city policy regarding cultural heritage protection and town-planning regulation is the responsibility of Moscow City Government, represented by the Department of Cultural Heritage, the Department of Urban Development and the Committee for Urban Development and Architecture of Moscow. In 1997 the boundaries of the protective (buffer) zone were approved in order to preserve the property, and to maintain and restore the historical architectural environment as well as the integral visual perception of the property.. There is a need to ensure the creation of an appropriate buffer zone and to develop close liaison between all stakeholders, including the Moscow City authorities, to ensure that constructions around the property do not impact adversely on its Outstanding Universal Value.

The World Heritage property is used by the following organizations: FGBUK (Federal Government Budgetary Institution of Culture), the State Historical and Cultural Museum-preserve “The Moscow Kremlin”, the Administrative Department of the President of the Russian Federation, the Federal Guard Service of the Russian Federation and OJSC “GUM Department Store”.

• Official site of 'The Moscow Kremlin' State Historical and Cultural Museum and Heritage Site
• Moscow Kremlin Museums Telegram Group (in Russian only)
• Moscow Kremlin Museums VKontakte Page (in Russian only)
• Moscow Kremlin Museums Dzen Page (in Russian only)
• State Historical Museum VKontakte Group (in Russian only)
• Msk Guide Page (in Russian only)
• Official site of the State Department Store
• State Historical Museum (in Russian only)

State of Conservation (SOC)

• Harper's Bazaar
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• India Today
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• Cosmopolitan
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Navigating the evolution of art conservation in India

Bazaar india explores the transformation of revival and restoration of art with establishments like the archaeological survey of india, the indian national trust for art and cultural heritage, and others..

The historical archives of India are a testament to the prevalence of restoration and conservation practices since ancient times to preserve our creative heritage. Take for instance, the meticulous preservation of cave art and sculptures in the Mauryan and Gupta periods, the initiatives undertaken during the medieval times by the Mughal emperors, and the efforts in the colonial era to document Indian art. The establishment Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1861 marked a significant milestone in conservatory practices. There’s no denying that these practices gained traction to become more organised and professional disciplines only in the post-independence era. It was in the ’80s, Martand Singh (fondly known as Mapu), the erstwhile Rajput prince of Kapurthala and heritage and textile conservationist, founded the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) with a vision to endeavour nuanced exhibitions and projects.

Bindu Manchanda, heritage revivalist, founder of Cultural Conservation Consultants and the founding trustee of The Partition Museum, shares her experience of working under Mapu at INTACH, “Meeting and working with Mapu was life-altering. His vision and clarity of thought were unparalleled. While today we are so dependent on technology, he remembered every detail and instructed us verbally without even a paper in his hand at the time of working on my first museum project—Rani Ka Mahal in Jaisalmer. He pushed me out of my comfort zone right at the onset, from talking to the funders for the project to mounting humongous choga which belonged to a rather burly Maharawal,” she laughs.

MAPPING THE EVOLUTION The country has come a long way in its outlook towards art, and this gradual shift can be attributed to our shared cultural conscience. India is replete with art and cultural traditions everywhere you go, says archaeologist Anica Mann, who was also the curator for the India Art Fair Young Collector’s Programme last year, and is known for her Instagram page, the Delhi Houses that archives the architectural history of the capital. “Every five kms begins a new cultural context fuelled by the diverse communities of the country. I believe, those who are passionate about this, are doing their very best but the country needs more people, and a genuine recognition for this profession to be essential to maintain the complexity, the historicity and authenticity of Indian culture as a whole,” she tells Bazaar India.

Deepthi Sasidharan, art historian and director of Eka Resources, which specialises in planning and creating archives, museums and cultural complexes, adds that the industry of art conservation has grown significantly in the last two decades. “Today, India has world-class professionals and of course, the awareness has also increased tremendously. For instance, the people who collect works of art on paper are informed and store them in acid-free boxes. Recently, a client had left a painting exposed to rain near an open window, and he immediately sent it to a conservator for remedial action. Even photographs and textiles damaged by stains or insect attacks are now salvageable.” Textile revivalist, curator, and founder of Sutr Santati, Lavina Baldota feels there’s a huge resurrection in the field of textile, especially in India. “Textile has become an important medium of art. A lot of organisations are working on either reviving or promoting a couple of certain textile crafts from a distant region, creating different marketplaces, and even design interventions. Through Sutr Santati, we bring all these people together who have been working in this field, and provide them a platform for the viewers to see the diverse textile arena of the country.”

THE ART OF STORYTELLING Storytelling in an exhibition is effective if it is able to evoke an emotive response for its diverse audiences. In Deepthi’s opinion, this is achievable through a gamut of possibilities, but impactful storytelling depends on meticulous research, subject knowledge, and an ability to connect with the audience. “At the Rezwan Razack Museum for Indian Paper Money in Bengaluru for example, we communicate the hidden security features in a banknote—this makes it fun and visitors often pull out a currency note to see if what they have newly learnt is true. At the Anokhi Museum of Blockprinting in Jaipur, visitors can block print their own cloth, bringing home very effectively the story of the process,” she shares.

While the object at display becomes the prime focus, the stories around it are even more important, feels Bindu. “Who made it? What was the social value when it was created? What were the socio-political time period, the craftsperson’s background, and personal life—these are some of the pertinent questions that will bring the object to life. It’s not enough to just put a piece of art with a date and a little information about it. Additionally, a lot of people miss out on the process, for instance, if it’s a painting, information about the kind of paint used, the process of making the paint, and the tools and techniques involved are crucial,” she shares objectively.

For Lavina, the stories evolve around the textile. While each piece tells a story, these actions or groups each textile belongs to, also weave stories, collectively. Take for instance, she explains, “We have a revival group, a sacred group, a nationalist themes group, the indigenous groups—we have varied groups, and the exhibition throws light on different types of craft and techniques. Every section then becomes a story in itself.”

Inclusion stands at the very core of everything Anica does or would like to do. The Delhi Houses project is not just for people from Delhi to appreciate. It is for all the people around the world to participate in, by telling the story of how a home feels. “An important tool to tell any story is also the language that does not alienate but invites. While simple language is always appreciated in easily understanding the story you want to tell, it is contextualisation that plays a more powerful role,” she explains.

DRIVING SOCIAL RELEVANCE AND FINANCIAL VIABILITY While museums of royal collections are fascinating in their own right, it’s the people and community museums that connect deeply with the audience. A museum should come down to your level to build an emotional connect as its ultimate role is to bring the “inside, out” and the “outside, in”, feels Bindu. The Partition Museum in Amritsar has a deeper connect with the people, for it holds objects and stories of the trials and tribulations of one of the most significant socio-political event of the country. On similar lines, Bindu mentions the lesser-known Amarnath Sehgal Private Collection in Jangpura, Delhi where the noted modern artist’s archives were opened to public viewing in 2018. She adds, “These kind of private initiatives make art accessible to common people. I think the rich and influential people with great collections shouldn’t charge fee to make art more accessible.” Lavina echoes similar thoughts and adds, “The exhibitions through Sutr Santati don’t have a commercial angle. We don’t sell anything. I only exhibit in national museums and provide a platform to artists and artisans. Viewers can directly get in touch with them to place an order.”

NAVIGATING ROAD BLOCKS Funding is one of the biggest challenges. While there are not enough public funding available, the government of India offers schemes that one can apply for, but the process is often complex, shares Bindu. Next in line, is the challenge of building the USP, as it’s directly related to footfall. “You must think of innovative ways to bring people in. What is it that you would be offering to pique people’s interest? Museums don’t have to be boring academic places catering to a certain kind of people.

Anica feels that there is a certain level of casualness in the area of work involving culture. “Somehow culture is never a priority for most, unless a CSR deadline is impending, and sometimes we get snuffed for a tree plantation drive. Not to say either is less important, but pitching cultural work is hard. Navigating this particular problem has always required a dynamic and kind approach. One needs to be patient and plan way ahead of time.”

While India is exploding with new cultural institutions, museums, and archives, the biggest challenge is a lack of planning, Deepthi says. “People start setting up a museum on a whim, either making a building without considering the collection that will be exhibited or unwilling to spend on space for systematic storage or care of collections. Coupled with a tremendous paucity of trained professionals, it compounds to failed projects or those that exceed budgets.”

THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE With cultural institutions being opened all over the country, influential families are leading the way in taking India’s art and cultural heritage on the global map, Anica says, “We had the launch of NMACC, followed by the opening of the Hampi Arts Lab by the Jindal family, and the upcoming grander version of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Additionally, the Ministry of Culture is working to build the Art and Architecture Biennale at the Red Fort, hosting the Museum exposition at the Pragati Maidan, and continuing its incredible work in preserving world heritage monuments in India.” Further, innovative collaborations between museums for loans, events, research, and others, should be explored for a more futuristic vision, concludes Bindu.

This article originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar India January-February 2024 print issue.

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Revisiting proverbs that can be applied to environmental conservation

P ROVERBS have been a useful component of oral tradition passed from generation to generation to educate, remind and teach local communities on the virtues of life.

Proverbs became an important part of indigenous knowledge systems and human wisdom that could also be applied to environmental conservation to forewarn, save lives, nurture and preserve forests through cultural identity, worldview and heritage-based education.

Since time immemorial, indigenous communities have depended on forest resources for their livelihood options and cultural practices.

Therefore, forests needed to be protected not only through participatory practices, but also through wisdom crafted as vital communicative and inclusive tools with rich didactic components.

Although local communities sometimes appeared as if they undervalued forests through careless destruction of trees, water resources and physical landscapes, they cherished nature as a vital resource for survival.

In this regard, that is why nature is described as mother nature, mother land, with the qualities of a woman of endless love and caring.

Nature became the symbol of life, fertility and production of forest resources and ecosystem services.

Traditional ecological knowledge thrived on the use of proverbs some of them depicting nature, animals, human behaviours, attitudes and belief systems.

Aive madziva ave mazambuko (What used to be great now looks ordinary). Although this proverb can be applied to situations or people who were once invincible, powerful and scaring, it can also literally apply to the physical world where the once mighty rivers have now been affected by soil erosion, siltation and human activities.

There are situations and lived experiences where even great lakes in Chad, Middle East, South America, among others, have been reduced to mere ordinary pools.

Chisi hachieri musi wacharimwa (The consequences of bad practices are not felt immediately; they are revealed with the passage of time).

With reference to the current accelerating global warming scenarios, they are not a result of what happened yesterday, but what has happened for many years while accumulating and building up in the atmosphere resulting in disasters, extreme heat, flooding, moisture stress, lack of precipitation, droughts, diseases, just to mention a few.

In this regard, these proverbs are part of the broad network of the indigenous knowledge systems, embodying knowledge of natural resources use against human perceptions, beliefs and worldview.

Therefore, cultural factors affect the people’s actions and need to be understood in terms of people’s belief systems.

Indigenous knowledge systems linked proverbs play vital roles in environmental stewardship by touching on forest participatory behaviours and humans’ interactions with nature.

This also enables such proverbs to contribute to environmental protection, behaviour modification and livelihood recovery.

Kamoto kamberevere kanopisa matanda mberi (An uncontrolled process can degenerate into an unmanageable situation). In this view, what started as small-scale harvest of wood and cutting down of trees, degenerated into large-scale deforestation.

What started as small-scale burning of fossil fuels generated into a global scourge of climate change.

What started as small-scale mining, contributed to large-scale land degradation, unsustainable land use practices and irreparable deep scars on the earth surface.

As such, unregulated human activities start on a small scale, but they are nurtured directly or indirectly into widely acknowledged global problems which require international conferences to solve.

Proverbs applied to environmental situations have the power and intellectual attributes designed to create order out of disorder.

Charovasei chando chakwidza hamba mumuti (extreme situations can cause people to behave in unexpected ways). This is a situation where trees are used as symbols for protection and refuge, hence they need to be protected, conserved and nurtured into sanctuaries.

They need to be protected because they provide livelihoods, peace, tranquility and harmony, beauty, natural order, among others. Through proverbs, conservation behaviours are not a random process, but are done according to the dictates of the natural order of events.

In this regard, proverbs are communicative and interactive tools, contributing to a broad network of understanding the whole system that constitute conservation activities.

Through proverbs, local people are empowered to take control and be in charge of their environment.

Proverbs have an intrinsic value to inspire, regulate and value the natural environment thereby strengthening the relationship between humans and nature.

In this regard, proverbs are still useful while negating them results in communities undermining natural systems, cultural attributes and values which have sustained livelihoods for generations.

They have defined human systems and behaviours, helped people to see meaning in their survival and aspirations.

The gradual disappearance of proverbs as cultural symbols and indigenous knowledge systems has contributed to the dearth of forests and environmental growth.

Therefore, once lost, oral-based knowledge can be difficult to retrieve.

Foregrounding traditional knowledge, culture and language, can enhance community empowerment, identity and cohesion. Proverbs will continue to act as powerful cultural-environmental models determining behaviour towards environmental sustainability.

Peter Makwanya is a climate communicator. He writes in his capacity and he can be contacted on: [email protected] .