Istituto centrale per il restauro (ICR) - Direzione Generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali

The Central Institute for Restoration (ICR) is an institute with special autonomy, tasked with research, planning, experimentation, and assessment in the safeguarding, restoration and conservation of cultural heritage, as well as training through a School of Higher Education and Study, with locations in Rome and Matera.

The Institute was founded in 1939 by Giulio Carlo Argan and Cesare Brandi, in response to a need to establish restoration practices on a scientific basis and to unify methodologies of intervention on works of art and archaeological artefacts. The theoretical and methodological directions outlined by Cesare Brandi, the Institute’s first director, were developed and integrated by subsequent directors Pasquale Rotondi and Giovanni Urbani.

Special attention is given to topics of preventive conservation. For this, the land information system of the “Monumental Heritage Risk Map”, managed together with the ICCD, can be used. This a set of databases (GIS) documents the vulnerability of geo-referenced assets to natural and anthropogenic risks.

School of Higher Education and Study

Affiliated with the Institute is a School of Higher Education and Study, providing one 5-year degree track, with locations in Rome and Matera, which issues diplomas qualifying the recipient for the profession of Restorer of Cultural Heritage, equivalent to a Master’s degree.