UNESCO/ICCROM Manual on Endangered Heritage now available in 10 languages

UNESCO/ICCROM manual « Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections » now available online in 10 languages

The manual “Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections” jointly elaborated by UNESCO and International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), is a practical handbook to help local communities, emergency responders, as well as professionals of heritage institutions, notably but not limited to museums, to safely evacuate cultural property in crisis situations.

The relevant policy guidelines, practical measures, and easy-to-follow illustrations developed by museum, heritage and conservation experts for this manual have proven very useful in preparation for and response to emergency situations. Increased interest from heritage professionals worldwide led to numerous translations made in collaboration with a number of organizations. Originally published in English and Arabic, the manual is now available in French, Georgian (with Blue Shield Georgia), Japanese (with National Institutes for Cultural Heritage/Kyoto National Museum), Nepali (with UNESCO Office in Kathmandu), Portuguese (with Grupo de Amigos do Museu Nacional dos Coches), Russian (with ICOM Russia), Turkish (with ICOMOS Turkey), and most recently Spanish (with Servicio Nacional del Patrimonio Cultural of Chile).

Museum and heritage professionals are encouraged to make use of this step-by-step guidance to be familiar with the procedures necessary for evacuating collections under extreme conditions. It is meant to assist those communities and institutions that are trying to prevent the destruction and looting of cultural objects during such a situation. It can be also used to train the trainers and to improve emergency preparedness at cultural institutions.

The original publication was supported by the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund.