| Directions in Preventive Conservation |
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Directions in Preventive Conservation
reviewed by Teodora Poiata
Date: 26-29 September 2007 Place: Sibiu, Romania Organiser: Training Center for Conservators and Restorers (CePCoR), ASTRA National Museum Complex
The conference started with a series of key lectures given by renowned international specialists. Gaël de Guichen, also known as the father of preventive conservation, researcher of ICCROM for 30 years, spoke about the change of mentality in preventive conservation and about the necessity of increasing the attention to storage in museums’ activity. Jonathan Ashley-Smith, the developer of the application of risk methodology to strategic and tactical conservation decision-making, discussed the role of standards in preventive conservation. György Balázs, deputy director of the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest (Hungary), presented the national strategy for preventive conservation in Hungarian museums. Jean Tétreault, adviser and researcher on environmental condition directives, pollutants, exhibit and storage products and strategy on the preservation assessment of collections at the Canadian Institute of Conservation, introduced the problematic of pollutants in museums and of products used for display and storage of collections. Most of the presentations given by the participants are worth being mentioned, but we will confine ourselves to mention just two of them. Among the most interesting presentations which we assisted was “Risk Management in Preventive Conservation” given by three young conservation professionals, Andrea Bernath from the ASTRA Museum in Sibiu, Zsuzsanna Mara from the Szeckler Museum in Miercurea Ciuc and Krisztina Márton from the Teleki-Bolyai Library in Târgu Mureş, a team coordinated by Marta Guttmann. The presentation summarised the activity of the ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) course which took place at Sibiu between 18 June and 6 July 2007, organised by ICCROM in partnership with CCI (Canadian Conservation Institute), ICN (Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage), the Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs, and the Training Center for Conservators and Restorers (CePCoR) within ASTRA National Museum Complex. The presentation gave an insight into the general organisation mode of the course. Before the actual course, two preparatory meetings took place with the purpose of establishing the objects of study and the programme of the course. A total of 22 participants were selected from more then 100 applications received. 11 lecturers worked hard to achieve the course objective during the three weeks available. The target region of the course was Eastern Europe and specific problems from this area, thus the case studies were chosen from this region. The course presented to the participants a new approach to preventive conservation through risk management: establishing the context, identifying, analysing and evaluating the risks, developing the treatment options, and communicating. We also wish to draw the attention over “The Tales at the Palaces: Internal access at Historic Royal Palaces” of Laurie Gibbs, preventive conservator, which presented some very interesting issues and practical solutions for the problems raised by setting up scaffoldings. According to odd spaces or locations, scaffolding systems have to be adjusted and new solutions must be found and implemented by the conservator. The team, made mainly from women used to work at considerable heights, has participated in several demanding projects for the protection and preventive conservation of the royal palaces in London. Quoting Laurie Gibbs, “introducing equipment such as scaffolds and mobile access platforms into our fragile interior is a very risky and necessary business. We managed it by constantly reviewing our procedures, updating our equipment and training our stuff to the very possibly high standards that we can manage.” The good organisation and the ambient of Sibiu are just some of the many things which are worth being mentioned regarding this successful event. After the conference has ended, we asked the coordinator of the organisation team, Marta Guttmann, her personal opinion about this experience: “The outcome of the event exceeded our expectations. The invited key speakers gave excellent lectures. The other presentations were diverse and of high quality, the information conveyed was interesting and relevant, the atmosphere was nice, so every necessary element of a successful conference was there. We truly hope the event will be a long term benefit for every participant, a starting point of many useful professional contacts. We are sure that interest for preventive conservations grew substantially among Romanian participants due to the conference; professionals became more aware of the complexity of the issue and of their responsibilities in the field. We, the CePCoR, will continue to focus our activity on preventive conservation, aiming the development of a national prevention policy and program for our cultural heritage, and the allocation of the necessary funds. I would like to express thanks to our key speakers, who considerably raised the professional level of the event, to the excellent participants, without whom the work of the organisers is useless, to the Sibiu 2007 Program for their financial support and finally special thanks to the whole enthusiastic organising team.” Now, it is our turn to thank Marta Guttmann for the invitation at the conference and to congratulate her for this initiative. We hope to attend more of these successful events in the future, as CePCoR is known by its rich activity and dynamism among the institutions that deal with conservation of cultural heritage in Romania.
Text by Teodora Poiata
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