Author: Abigail Choudhury

PRESS RELEASE: ICOMOS Statement on Crac des Chevaliers and the continuing destruction of the cultural heritage of Syria
ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, expresses its deep concern for the on-going destruction of cultural heritage in Syria, and stands with Syrian cultural heritage professionals for the protection of heritage places in the country.
The continuing conflict situation in Syria, which began in 2011, has led to an extensive humanitarian crisis and the destruction of many invaluable cultural heritage places, including World Heritage properties.
New media reports and video footage of the bombardment and damages to Crac des Chevaliers, one of Syria’s World Heritage properties, are of particular concern to ICOMOS.
Once again, by recalling the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, to which the Syrian Arab Republic is a State Party, ICOMOS urges all parties to this armed conflict to respect and protect the cultural heritage. ICOMOS calls upon all parties to refrain from any use of cultural properties and their immediate surroundings for purposes, which are likely to expose cultural heritage sites to destruction or damage. The parties to this conflict should refrain from any act of hostility, directed against such places. ICOMOS insists on the demilitarization of all cultural heritage of Syria, including monuments and sites with outstanding universal value. ICOMOS further supports the decision of the World Heritage Committee suggesting that the Syrian Arab Republic consider ratifying the Second Protocol (1999) of 1954 Hague Convention.
Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din represent the most significant examples illustrating the exchange of influences and documenting the evolution of fortified architecture in the Near East during the time of the Crusades (11th – 13th centuries). Crac des Chevaliers, with further construction by the Mamluks in the 13th century, is among the best-preserved examples of the Crusader castles.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time during the current civil strife that the Syrian people and the international community are witnesses to the damages inflicted on the World Heritage properties of Syria. Many historic parts of the Ancient City of Aleppo, including its ancient markets (suks) and the Great Mosque, have suffered extensive damages, already since 2012.
The reports of illegal excavations in different archaeological sites, and reports of apparently planned and intentional destructions of symbolic monuments have also caused serious concerns.
Because of the continuing threats, all six Syrian World Heritage properties were inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, at the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cambodia last June:
Ancient City of Aleppo
Ancient City of Bosra
Ancient City of Damascus
Ancient Villages of Northern Syria
Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din
Site of Palmyra
The state of conservation of Syria’s cultural heritage during the on-going armed conflict is among the most urgent concerns for ICOMOS. It continues its efforts to support Syrian professionals and experts by delivering knowledge, providing technical consultancy, raising awareness, and building capacity.
ICOMOS, an Advisory Body of the World Heritage Committee and a founder organization of the Blue Shield, expresses its solidarity with Syrian cultural heritage organizations and professionals, and supports their appeal for the protection and recovery of cultural properties during and after the end of the current turmoil.
It places itself at the disposal of UNESCO for all actions undertaken to ensure the preservation of Syria’s six World Heritage properties currently listed as in danger.
Download the full statement (PDF – English/French)
Links:
Protection of Syria’s Cultural Heritage in Times of Armed Conflict: ICOMOS – ICCROM e-learning course for Syrian cultural heritage professionals
ICOMOS Statement on Aleppo, 27 July 2012
Blue Shield Statement on Syria
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ICOMOS, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, is a unique, non-governmental, democratic, not for profit international organisation, committed to furthering the conservation, protection, use and enhancement of the world’s cultural heritage.
As an official advisory body to the World Heritage Committee for the implementation of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, ICOMOS evaluates nominations and advises on the state of conservation of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List.
ICOMOS is one of the founding members of the Blue Shield network, working to protect the world’s cultural heritage threatened by armed conflict, natural and man-made disasters.
For more information see www.icomos.org

In a series of posts on the University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Beat blog, Nancy Kraft, AIC-CERT team member and Preservation Librarian, reflects on her work at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Those of us who volunteer to assist in disaster response are, obviously, not in it for the money. Private conservators are not getting paid while volunteering. Many of us are away from family and friends, work hard and go to bed exhausted during recovery efforts. So what is in it for us?
For me, as for many of us, it is the giving back to our community, assisting in saving our culture, and the joy of helping someone preserve a little bit of his/her history. The piece below is a perfect example. I captured the title “For Matthew, May 14-May 15, 1976″ commemorating the birth of the artist’s son.

Read more of  Nancy’s posts here:
Teaching Moments at CRC
Busy Day at the Cultural Recovery Center in Brooklyn
An Artist’s Quandary
Assessment and Cleaning
Assisting Artists After Hurricane Sandy
Salvaging Artists’ Works After Hurricane Sandy

Read the University of Iowa Libraries Preservation Beat blog: http://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/preservation/
With thanks to Nancy Kraft and the University of Iowa Libraries for permission to re-post this information on our blog.

FAIC Responds to Cultural Disasters
Founded in 2007, the AIC Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) is comprised of conservators and other museum professionals trained to respond to disasters affecting cultural institutions. Managed by the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC), AIC-CERT volunteers have provided assistance and advice to dozens of museums, libraries, and archives in the wake of natural disasters including tropical storms, floods, hurricanes, and even the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. In 2007 and again in 2010, FAIC received funding from the Institute of Museum & Library Services to support an advanced training program that resulted in a force of 107 “rapid responders” adept at assessing damage and initiating salvage of cultural collections after a disaster has occurred.
AIC-CERT: the SWAT Team for Art
Hurricane Sandy caused an enormous amount of damage and loss of life. The storm was equally disastrous for the arts and culture community. It struck the Northeast at the end of October, 2012 and combined with other weather patterns and high tides to form a “Super Storm.” Requests for assistance quickly came in through the AIC-CERT hotline and from Alliance for Response New York City (AFRNYC). Many collecting institutions throughout the region were affected, but small galleries and individual artists were especially hard hit in the low-lying neighborhoods of New York City.
By March 1, 23 AIC-CERT members will have contributed 125 days of professional volunteer services in New York and New Jersey.

“If the cultural industry has a SWAT team for visual art, it is the AIC’s Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT)”
– Pia Catton, Wall Street Journal, November 18, 2012

Before the storm hit, AIC-CERT had already begun preparations. Media releases on October 26 encouraged emergency preparedness and provided institutions with the AIC-CERT hotline number (202-661-8068). As of December 4, 2012, FAIC’s Collections Emergency Response Team (AIC-CERT) hotline had received over 120 requests for assistance, and all have been followed up with appropriate phone, email, and in-person visits by volunteers. Fourteen AIC-CERT members from across the country responded to the initial calls, organized by Beth Antoine (the AIC-CERT Coordinator), who was working overtime to meet the demand. In addition, FAIC contracted with Cynthia Albertson, a conservator at MOMA, to coordinate the many professionals in the New York area who wished to assist. Twenty-eight local volunteers worked with AIC-CERT in the initial response. Some of the larger projects included the Martha Graham collection; individual artists at the Westbeth Artists Residence; and various artists and galleries in Chelsea and Brooklyn. Multi-day power outages in lower Manhattan and other neighborhoods, subway line closures, and area gas rationing complicated the response.
Because of the physical, cultural, and economic geography of the New York region, a disproportionate number of artists and private galleries were the hardest hit by the storm. Four to six feet of surging water caused physical damage as well as water damage. Although volunteers were able to help move and dry materials in the first weeks, it became clear that artists would need a great deal of space, guidance, and equipment in order to remove toxic coatings and prevent mold from destroying works that seemed to be “saved.” A review of the services provided through early December showed that at least 24 collections were in need of further work, and that space, equipment, and expert advice would be needed.
The Cultural Recovery Center
To address the need for further assistance, FAIC opened the Cultural Recovery Center (CRC), an 18,000 square foot space in Brooklyn, to provide space, equipment, supplies, and volunteer expertise to assist artists and owners of damaged works to clean, decontaminate, and stabilize their paintings, works on paper, sculpture, textiles, photographs, and other objects. FAIC took possession of the space on December 10, and begin providing services to its first artist on December 13.
Opening the facility not only required physical preparation, but administrative support as well. Policies and procedures for the facility were developed; a job description for the studio manager position was created; phone numbers and email addresses organized, and so on. The Studio Manager, Anna Studebaker, formerly manager of the objects conservation lab at the Metropolitan Museum, began work on December 18. She coordinates the work at the CRC, including scheduling artists, signing volunteers in and out, making sure volunteers are working safely, maintaining records of the work, ensuring supplies are in stock, and keeping in communication with the volunteer coordinators and FAIC staff. The overall project is managed by Eric Pourchot, FAIC Institutional Advancement Director.
In the first month of operations, the CRC worked with seven artists on 555 works, including paintings, works on papers, photographs, textiles, and multi-media works. Twelve conservators volunteered 22 days of time working with artists at the Center.
    
Several artists are still in the queue to bring their works to the Center, including a painter who has had many of his paintings and works on paper worked on at the Center already, but has more in storage still to be assessed and cleaned; a photographer who is seeking space to rinse and dry approximately 40,000 images; textile artists; sculptors; electronic media creators; and many others whose works are at risk because of toxic deposits and potential mold growth. The Cultural Recovery Center will remain open through March 1st in order to handle the requests for services.
This would not have been possible without …
Initial funding for the response and recovery efforts, including initial costs for the Center, was provided by a leadership gift to FAIC from Sotheby’s. A grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation allowed the Center to remain open through March 1. Industry City at Bush Terminal provided the space rent-free. Rapid Refile set up containment tents and air scrubbers to prevent the spread of mold from incoming objects to cleaned objects. Collector Systems has provided free use of its web-based collection management system. The Smithsonian Institution and a grant to Heritage Preservation from the New York Community Trust, as well as support from TALAS, have enabled purchase of supplies. The Center has also been outfitted with supplies from Materials for the Arts, a creative reuse program managed by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional donations to FAIC have come from PINTA, The Modern & Contemporary Latin American Art Show; Tru Vue; Aon Huntington Block Insurance; Aon Foundation; members of AIC; and others. The American Museum of Natural History and MoMA have also provided key in-kind support for recovery efforts and establishment of the CRC.

AIC-CERT Remains on Alert
Even though the response for SuperStorm Sandy was unprecedented for FAIC, AIC-CERT members continued to be ready to respond to other emergency situations. During December and January, even while staffing the CRC in New York City, AIC-CERT members assisted the Osage Historical Society in Oklahoma, which suffered from soot damage after a fire, and responded to soot damage from a furnace puff-back at the Oakham Historical Museum in Massachusetts.
More information about FAIC, AIC-CERT, and the Cultural Recovery Center can be found at www.conservation-us.org/disaster or by sending an email to info@conservation-us.org

The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC) announces the opening of the Cultural Recovery Center (CRC) in Brooklyn, NY.  The CRC is offering space and to help owners of artworks damaged as a result of Superstorm Sandy. The CRC will offer volunteer assistance and work space to museums, libraries, archives, historic sites, galleries, collectors, and artists. The goal is not to provide free conservation treatment, but to provide guidance and assistance in the cleaning and stabilization of art and cultural materials.

Artists and others in need of assistance are invited to contact the Cultural Recovery Center by phone:  718-757-2140 or by email: culturalrecoverycenter@gmail.com  Information about the size of the collection, type of objects, and damage will be collected in order to ensure that appropriate space, equipment, and expertise will be available.  Space at the CRC is limited, so all works must be received by appointment only.

The Cultural Recovery Center is located on 33rd Street in Brooklyn, in the Industry City at Bush Terminal facilities, near the 36th Street stop on the D, N, or R lines.  Normal operating hours are 9-5, Monday through Friday.  The Center will be closed on all Federal holidays as well as December 31.

Conservator Tara Kennedy cleans mold off of works of art on paper  by artist Ronnie Landfield at the Cultural Recovery Center

The Center for Cultural Recovery is operated by The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC), in cooperation with a consortium of organizations:

Alliance for Response New York City
Heritage Preservation
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
New York Regional Association for Conservation
Industry City at Bush Terminal
Smithsonian Institution

Funding for the Center has been provided by a leadership gift to FAIC from Sotheby’s.  The Smithsonian Institution and a grant to Heritage Preservation from the New York Community Trust, as well as support from TALAS, have enabled purchase of supplies.  The Center has also been outfitted with supplies from Materials for the Arts, a creative reuse program managed by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Rapid Refile has provided air filtration equipment.  Additional donations to FAIC have come from PINTA, The Modern & Contemporary Latin American Art Show; Tru Vue; Huntington T. Block, members of the American Institute for Conservation; and others. The American Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Modern Art have also provided key support for recovery efforts.