From 25 to 28 September 2024, the first full-scale exercise of the Cultural Heritage Response Unit (CHRU) took place at Demerthin Castle (Brandenburg). In the course of a simulation of an earthquake scenario, experts from Germany were activated in the international protection of cultural heritage following a disaster. The CHRU is expected to be operational by 2025
Within the framework of the KulturGutRetter project, the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), together with the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA), is developing a response unit through which Germany can provide rapid assistance worldwide for the emergency care of cultural heritage in the event of disasters. During the full-scale exercise organized from 25 to 28 September 2024, the volunteers of the KulturGutRetter’s Cultural Heritage Response Unit (CHRU) had their first opportunity to test in practice what they had previously learned in a large-scale exercise scenario. The earthquake scenario was set at the Renaissance castle of Demerthin in the district of Prignitz, in Brandenburg. On arrival at the exercise site, the 41 CHRU participants came up against the following scenario.
Disaster scenario
A major earthquake had struck the region. National and international relief organisations, after tending to the search and rescue and life-saving phase needed to secure a cultural heritage monument and its collections. The international requests for assistance implemented through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) included the request for assistance in securing the cultural heritage at risk. Germany then agreed to offer assistance made available by the international response unit CHRU. (1) The unit flew to the affected area, where shoring and securing operations of the castle were carried out and cultural artefacts were recovered.
Salvage, documentation and emergency conservation of cultural heritage
“There is no blueprint for this project. As the team leader of the CHRU, I will always remember how well the cooperation and transfer of expertise worked. I am surprised that we came together as such different people - THW experts, archaeologists, restorers and engineers. But the drive to protect something of value to us and the common focus on a meaningful goal brought us together”, said Stefan Tahn, CHRU team leader.
During the exercise, the CHRU, consisting of volunteer experts from the cultural heritage protection sector and from the civil protection, carried out a damage assessment of the castle, and documented the building. The use of the site was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Brandenburg State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and the Prignitz County Department for the Preservation of Monuments, and thanks to the much appreciated authorization granted by the Gumtow community.
Together, the CHRU team members removed debris from the castle's rooms to relieve the load on the structure. Volunteers filled cracks in the building and salvaged sculptures, decorative elements and other movable cultural assets, which were then subject to emergency conservation measures in the laboratory on the castle grounds. Experts used the DAI's QField-based digital documentation system (2) to record paintings, statues and other cultural artefacts. In the mobile emergency conservation laboratory developed at LEIZA for rapid transport to disaster areas (3), the CHRU experts in conservation and restoration photographed, cleaned and packed the recovered cultural artefacts. THW, with its many years of operational experience, provided the technical and logistical components of the team, ensuring the team's self-sufficiency during the operation, organising the transport of equipment and running a camp for the team. It also facilitated communication and provided expert advisors. THW led the whole operation and provided experienced volunteers to lead the team on-site. The team module, the special equipment and the CHRU procedures were all tested by the participants for the first time in an operational scenario after the training sessions organized in 2024.
The training of the team and the associated major exercise in 2024 are important milestones in the KulturGutRetter project. The basic operational capacity of the CHRU for the international protection of cultural heritage in disaster situations is planned for early 2025.
The KulturGutRetter project
The KulturGutRetter project has been in progress since 2019 under the leadership of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) together with its partners from the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the Leibniz Centre for Archaeology (LEIZA). The project is supported by the German Foreign Office and the German Bundestag. The aim is to set up an international unit that, through the UCPM, can provide assistance worldwide whenever cultural heritage is at risk or threatened by earthquakes, floods or other disasters. This year, for the first time, the project has recruited and begun training more than 100 volunteer experts in the protection of cultural assets.
PROCULTHER-NET Observers
Arch. Veronica Piacentini and Arch. Cosmo Mercuri, experts of the Italian Civil Protection Department and part of the cultural heritage working- group involved in the PROCULTHER-NET project, were invited as observers and were able to appreciate the remarkable technical, organisational and logistical plan deployed in this exercise.
According to Cosmo Mercuri: “The operational capability of the module proved to be effective with respect to the scale of the exercise. Among the most noteworthy aspects in terms of effectiveness and innovation, was the tool used during sites inspections that enables the efficient documentation, cataloguing and tracking of registered cultural assets, through a process that identifies them by means of a unique code, and continues with the digitalisation of all subsequent processing steps up to their temporary storage.”
Veronica Piacentini, declared to be impressed by the organisation put in place, and was positively impressed by the very highly skilled and fully equipped emergency laboratory set outside the castle and agreed on the innovative aspects of the technology used for documenting the cultural items. In her opinion, the exercise was an excellent practical application proving the importance of the collaboration between cultural heritage experts and disaster risk management workers, a key principle on which PROCULTHER initiatives are based and continue to strengthen. Another key aspect considered in the exercise was facilitating dialogue and exchange between the two sectors cooperating to find a common language in ordinary time, so as to be better prepared in managing major emergencies in the future. She finally added “the CHRU is a first concrete application of the implementation of civil protection modules within the Mechanism entirely dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage at risk. This confirm that PROCULTHER-NET is on the right track, in the not-too-distant future we hope to have many such modules to support the Mechanism’s efforts to protect cultural heritage”.
(1) More information: C. Domenech de Cellès, N. Jakubeit, “KulturGutRetter (KGR): technical characteristics of a cultural heritage response unit”. PROCULTHER-NET Project. Technical Bulletin N. 1, March 2023. Pgg. 58- 64, ISSN 2975-190X
(2) More information: E. Iacono, B. Fritsch, “Data acquisition and data management for the emergency rescue of cultural heritage”. PROCULTHER-NET Project. Technical Bulletin N. 2, June 2023. Pgg. 35- 39, ISSN 2975-190X
(3) More information: I. Vollmer-Bardelli, “Providing first-aid to movable cultural heritage: a modular table system”. PROCULTHER-NET Project. Technical Bulletin N. 1, March 2023. Pgg. 19- 23, ISSN 2975-190X