The German Archaeological Institute and the project KulturGutRetter participated and represented the PROCULTHER-NET2 Consortium in two events organized by the Dutch organization Cultural Emergency Response in the aftermath of the celebrations for the 70 years of The Hague Convention to extend the discussion and foster exchanges and networking on cultural heritage at risk
Author: Constance Domenech de Cellès, Research Associate, German Archaeological Institute
Mid-May 2024, 70 years after the signature of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the city of The Hague was once again the meeting point for dozens of international experts in cultural heritage protection.
Following the closing ceremony of the UNESCO International Conference “Cultural Heritage and Peace: Building on 70 years of The Hague Convention”, on the evening of May 15th, the Dutch organization Cultural Emergency Response (CER), Blue Shield International (BSI), and the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI) co-hosted the workshop “Documenting the Destruction of Heritage & Seeking Solutions”. Moderated by Bijan Rouhani, EAMENA Researcher at the University of Oxford, the three panelists addressed complementary approaches: from the use and interpretations of legal texts – by Marina Lostal, Senior Lecturer at the Essex Law School; to concrete actions on the ground in Ukraine through the experience of Vasyl Rozhko and the Heritage Monitoring Lab. Emma Cunliffe, Senior Research Associate at Newcastle University and BSI, highlighted the importance of preparedness and cooperation.
On May 16th, CER organized a meeting in a speed-dating format to facilitate networking between actors working for the protection of cultural heritage from around the world. For DAI it was an opportunity to present the achievements of PROCULTHER-NET and the planned activities for PROCULTHER-NET2 to actors coming from the Balkans, the Mediterranean area, Eastern Europe and beyond. Equipment and workflows developed by the project KulturGutRetter– such as the mobile emergency conservation laboratory (1) – received a positive welcome.
These two events led to constructive discussions for future cooperation in areas such as training and sharing best practices for better interoperability on the ground.
(1) See article “Providing first-aid to movable cultural heritage: a modular table system” in Technical Bulletin#1, March 2023