UNESCO World Cultural Heritage

Conference of the German National Committee of ICOMOS and the Diöceses of Hildesheim in Cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran  Church of Hanover and the Faculty of Consrvation of the HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen

23. bis 25. November 2006 | Joseph-Godehard-Saal, Hildesheim

This conference took up the current problems in the preservation  of national monuments facing UNESCO world heritage sites in Germany, focussing on preventive conservation.

Preventive conservation is more complicated in the domain of conservation of national monuments than in the case of museums. The conservation of national monuments not only investigates and deals with the sources of material degradation, e.g. unfavorable climatic conditions, the influence of light and microorganic infestation, but has to seek solutions for other sort of problem, such as the legal protection of UNESCO world heritage sites and the loopholes therein, the quality of and the potential risk to the protection of the surrounding areas of cultural sites or the consideration of potential risks inherent in applications for inclusion in the list of world heritage.

The present topic of the convention, preventive conservation, was quite relevant for the conservation and protection of national monuments in general. University study programs and workshop training programs should reflect the concerns of experts and specialists responsible for developing concepts and methods in preventive conservation and those who put them into practice.

As Hildesheim was the venue of the conference, the UNESCO world heritage sites of the Hildesheim Cathedral and St. Michael’s Church were involved. St Michael’s Church was under restoration at this time, which included archaeological excavations. As a consequence of an architectural competition in 2005 the Cathedral will undergo comprehensive alterations.

The ICOMOS conference was held in cooperation with the Dioceses of Hildesheim, the Lutheran Protestant Church and the HAWK University for Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen. The HAWK Hornemann Institute was the convention office and was responsible for applications.

The conference language was German.