news3 marzo 2023

PROCULTHER-NET: first European interdisciplinary course in Volterra on the protection of cultural heritage at risk

70% of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism countries have agreed to participate.

Progetto PROMEDHE / 2018

The first session of the Protecting Cultural Heritage Course, which is part of PROCULTHER-NET, the project coordinated by the Civil Protection Department and co-funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, taking place in Volterra, Tuscany, from March 6 to 10, with the aim of strengthening European response capacity in the protection of cultural heritage at risk.

The training days will start with an online session which takes place today, March 3rd, to define the institutional and legislative framework concerning civil protection and cultural heritage at risk, at European and international levels.

The course is organized within the framework of the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network- KN, and will be divided into a first phase of classroom training at the SIAF -  Scuola Internazionale di Alta Formazione (International School of Higher Education) in Volterra, which is already a training/course venue set up within the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, followed by group workshops and an Exercise aimed at assessing the skills acquired by the participants.

Seven damage assessment models included in the PROCULTHER-NET project manual will also be tested on the field on this occasion: basic and site identification data, movable and immovable property, building profile, securing movable cultural heritage, intangible heritage, and relocation of movable cultural heritage.

The Protecting Cultural Heritage Course represents an important moment of discussion at the European level on the topic of cultural heritage protection, with its wide participation amounting to 70% of the countries of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism. Participants in the course will include not only Italian experts from the Ministry of Culture, the National Fire Department, the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command and the Army, but also professionals from the United Nations and Non-Governmental Organizations.
Other countries will also be represented by experts in risk management, members of the armed forces, archaeologists, professional firefighters, structural engineers, architects, restorers, archivists and researchers from the world of civil defense and cultural heritage, particularly from the Ministries of Culture, Interior, Defense, Emergency Management Authorities and Institutes of Conservation and Restoration.

Among the observers, there will be representatives of numerous European institutions, confirming the high attention with which the Union government follows the issue of safeguarding cultural heritage in critical situations.

To encourage the widest participation of representatives of the Mechanism countries, the city of Volterra will also host a second session of the course, scheduled for March 20-24.