Newsletter August 2006

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  1. ICOMOS conference: UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in Germany – perspectives in
    preventive Conservation and Preservation
  2. We are expanding our selection of electronic publications for conservators
  3. Future online further education courses
  4. Developing standards in globe conservation
  5. Educational Material concerning Hildesheim World Cultural Heritage

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Dear newsletter recipients,

in this Newsletter, we would like to put a special focus on our new projects and present two new papers from our
collection of complete university papers.

1. ICOMOS conference: UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in Germany – perspectives in Preventive Conservation and Preservation 23 - 25
November 2006, Hildesheim

This conference will take 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, is 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 is the
venue of the conference, the UNESCO world heritage sites of the Hildesheim Cathedral and St. Michael’s Church will be involved. St
Michael’s Church is presently under restoration, which includes archaeological excavations. As a consequence of an architectural
competition in 2005, the Cathedral will undergo comprehensive alterations. The ICOMOS conference is 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 is the convention office and will be responsible for applications. Further
Information: http://www.hornemann-institut.de/english/aktuelles.php -> Conference

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2. We are expanding our selection of electronic publications for conservators Since some months, you are able to access free of charge,
in addition to university papers, resp. abstracts, essays, conference reports and project documentations. The constantly growing abstract
collection can be viewed at no charge. The majority of the 730 abstracts are illustrated and are accessible both in German and in English. 24 of
the theses are available for complete download. A simple search function facilitates the retrieval of information. Contact addresses, provided by
the authors, enable further information exchange. Nearly all specialties in conservation-restoration are represented.

To place your thesis in the field of conservation or excavation in the databank yourself, please write a message to service@hornemann-institute.de. We will then send you an e-mail with your user name and password that you have access to the entry form for your thesis. Thus you can edit and update your files whenever you like.
We can, of course, also enter your thesis in our databank for you.

In this newspaper we would like to present two new papers from our collection of complete university papers. Anne-Marei Hacke:
Investigation into the Nature and Ageing of Tapestry Materials The work for this thesis was conducted within the context of the EU funded MODHT
(Monitoring of Damage in Historic Tapestries) project and included studies on natural dyestuffs, wool and silk fibres and metal threads.
Samples of historic tapestries, dating from the early 15th to the 17th centuries, were studied along with model tapestry fabrics produced to
mimic historic tapestries in terms of dye sources, dyeing recipes, wool and silk yarn specifications and fabric structure.
http://www.hornemann-institut.de/english/epubl_ha_ausgabe.php?lang=en&haid=820&l=o&sw=hacke&ref=/hornemann/english/epubl_suche.php

Karin von Lerber: Laser Cleaning of Undyed Silk - a Study The influence of laser irradiation on undyed, unweighted silk was tested. A computer
controlled Qswitched Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm was used to tread three different sample fabrics: a new, clean silk, a new silk, artificially
soiled with carbon dust, and naturally aged silk of unknown provenance. The results of this study suggest, that laser cleaning, even at low
fluence and pulse number, poses the chemical integrity of undyed and unweighted silk fabrics at significant risk. This risk might even be
higher when using hand held laser tools.
http://www.hornemann-institut.de/english/epubl_ha_ausgabe.php?lang=en&haid=819&l=u&sw=lerber&ref=/hornemann/english/epubl_suche.php

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3. Future online further education courses In addition to the hitherto three e-learning courses, two new courses in German will be offered: -
Photography for Documentation by Barbara Hentschel and Clemens Kappen - Restoration Analyses of Transparent Coatings on Furniture and Wooden
Objects by Julia Schultz and Merle Strätling in collaboration with Prof. Maierbacher-Legl, sponsored by the EU.

Presently the Hornemann Institute courses are all conducted in German, however upon consultation with the tutors, questions may be asked in
English.
Furthermore, in the next two to three years we will create English online courses for conservators in collaboration with US and Canadian
universities in the area of material science. This was agreed upon at the “Directors’ Retreat for Conservation Education” in Texas to which
the Getty Conservation Institute, the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and the Association of North
American Graduate Programs in Conservation also invited the Hornemann Institute.(http://retreat.webexone.com -> Enter as a Guest).The project
will be funded by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

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4. Developing standards in globe conservation Historic globes exist all over Europe, in public collections and libraries, but also as private property. While older celestial globes were made of metals, since Behaim´s Erdapfel, a manuscript-globe on parchment, was produced in 1492, globes have been made of paper, papier-mâché, wood and parchment. Therefore the care for their conservation has been in the hands of paper conservators. In contrast to this omnipresence of globes made of paper
and parchment, there is a sort of vacuum in conservation expertise concerning globe conservation. Today there are only a few conservators
working in different European countries, who, due to their individual careers, are able to deal with the conservation of globes. Isolated
articles in various journals have so far been the only competent publications in the field of globe conservation. On the initiative of
Prof. Patricia Engel, head of the Book and Paper Conservation at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Goettingen
a group of experts came together in order to broaden the scope of publicly available expertise: Vladimir Bulatov (The State Historical
Museum, Cartography Department, Moscow), Patricia Engel and Barbara Rittmeier (HAWK, Faculty of conservation, John Havermans (TNO
Environment and Geosciences, Dept. Environment, Building Physics and Energy, Delft), Julia Guilmette (Florenz), Michael Höjlund Rasmussen
(Vejle Amts Konserveringsvärksted), Halina Rosa (Nicholas Copernicus University, Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural,
Torun), Patrick Storme (Royal Academy of Fine Arts Opleiding Conservatie-Restauratie Metalen, Antwerpen) and Sylvia Suminra (London)
Finally, the papers will be the base for a multimedia self-learning course of the Hornemann Institute.

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5. Educational Material concerning Hildesheim World Cultural Heritage In order to integrate the in school curriculum and extra-curriculam
education, we compiled and tested educational material in 2005 in collaboration with 30 educators and 550 students. Participants: - age
groups 5 to 17 - various kinds of school (day care centers, elementary schools, comprehensive schools, grammar schools, schools for children
with learning disabilities). - a variety of school subjects (art, workshop, history, German, religion and Latin).

Moreover, the outcome was: - about 500 student papers - new learning and memory games for learning by playing - a teacher lending library with
important cultural and historical publications including teaching material for easy use in class (e.g., slides, videos)

The Bernward doors of the cathedral inspired third graders to make clay copies and tenth graders to draw pictures of their daily lives. In
drawing pictures of world heritage sites, one Iraqi boy chose the ancient Parthian city of Hatra in Iraq. The students learned how the
Iraqis identified themselves with Hatra´s long history and that destruction of cultural heritage in the Golf War was an intentional blow
to their identity. In future, we plan to conduct campaigns to acquaint children, teenagers and adults with world heritage. The aim of these
hands-on theme-based programs, which will last several hours, is to convey current object-related knowledge in a fun manner by own interaction.

In addition to this, the Hornemann Institute will create similar to the Museum Case a “World Heritage Case” in collaboration with teacher
training at the University of Hildesheim, the Cathedral Library, the Archives of the See of Hildesheim and the Book/Paper Faculty of the
Conservation Department in order to enhance presentation of the Hildesheimer UNESCO World Heritage not only verbally but also with
simple objects. This project will be funded by the Alcoa Foundation.


Best regards, the team of the Hornemann Institute

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