The workshop
On 16 and 17 April, the Rathgen-Forschungslabor (Rathgen Research Laboratory) of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, for the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK – Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation), organized the workshop Resilient cultural heritage in times of climate crisis, as part of the ARCHE (Alliance for Research on Cultural Heritage in Europe) project, funded by Horizon Europe. The event, hosted at the Kulturforum in Berlin, gathered around 100 policymakers and decision-makers, researchers, activists and practitioners from Germany and neighbouring countries, who discussed the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage and the development of sustainable solutions.
The workshop comprised four panels on the challenges of ARCHE's future Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), such as:
- climate change's threats to cultural heritage
- cultural heritage research as a driver of innovation and mitigation
- the secondary impacts of the climate crisis on cultural heritage in relation to aspects such as digital realm, war and conflict zones, migration, property rights
The event concluded with a session focused on stakeholder engagement in the future European Partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage (RCH) (RCH). The creation of the partnership is, in fact, one of the objectives of the ARCHE project, to be implemented in the next months.
The partners' meeting and the next steps
After the workshop, ARCHE project consortium meetings took place, focusing on completed and ongoing results and activities. After a first year of work on mapping and assessing the landscape of research and innovation in the field of cultural heritage in Europe, through a succession of several rounds of online stakeholder consultations, ARCHE is promoting a series of face-to-face workshops. The Berlin event was the first of a series of three other workshops scheduled in 2024 (in September, October and December) and hosted by local partners.
Main activities of the ARCHE project in 2024
- publication of the first version of the new SRIA Strategic Agenda for Cultural Heritage (as a document roadmap to harmonize heritage research policies in Europe in the next years) and of the project policy
- verification and implementation of the general project guidelines
- launch of the online Forum for heritage research as a tool for the drafting of the SRIA: an interactive platform as a co-design space where the heritage research community will be able to share and consult the interim results of the SRIA, drafting process and provide their feedback on them. Access to the platform will be free and available to all registered users on the Heritage Research Hub website
In addition to discussing the main results of the project over the past year, the partners in Berlin discussed the next steps regarding the submission of a proposal for the future European Partnership on Resilient Cultural Heritage (RCH), aimed at promoting and supporting projects and research activities on cultural heritage in relation to climate change.
After the plenary discussions on ARCHE's progress, partners also engaged in smaller thematic working sessions hosted by the Institut français Berlin and in collaboration with the French Embassy in Germany, which allowed further advancement in the development of the SRIA, while strengthening team spirit.
Rappresentanti della Direzione generale Educazione, ricerca e istituti culturali del Ministry of Culture, che è partner di progetto, hanno preso parte al workshop e alla riunione plenaria contribuendo alla discussione e allo sviluppo della rete di ARCHE. Il MIC organizzerà a Roma, nel dicembre prossimo, uno dei workshop calendarizzati per il 2024.
The ARCHE project
The ARCHE project started in September 2022 and will run until August 2025. Its aim is to develop a multidisciplinary approach to research and innovation in the field of cultural heritage, creating a European coordination network of researchers, innovators, heritage professionals, institutional bodies and citizens. The aim is to involve a wide variety of cultural heritage actors in Member States/Associated Countries in the co-design of research and innovation strategies and roadmaps.
Learn more about the project here.
