Abstract
Fires are among the most frequently recurring hazards affecting museums and cultural heritage sites. The fires of the National Museum of Brazil in 2018 and of Notre Dame de Paris in 2019 showed that the consequences of such events can be heavy and lead to irreversible heritage losses. In Kosovo, few studies were made about the risks that can affect cultural heritage sites. A project led by the NGO Kosovo Foundation for Cultural Heritage without Borders (CHwB Kosova) in 2018 explored the most prevalent risks for the cultural heritage sites of the country and highlighted fire as a predominant risk in Kosovo. In order to better understand it, vulnerability assessments were conducted in several museums in Kosovo. Data were collected through field visits in the different museums, in which interviews with staff members as well as observations were conducted. The aim of this paper is to present the main results of the fire vulnerability assessments conducted in Kosovo’s museums in 2018. An important aspect of this project is the approach to collect information in data-scarce environments. It is believed that the questionnaires used to lead interviews with museums’ staff members could help other practitioners to collect data in such contexts and evaluate more easily the risk of fire for the museums and their collections. In the context of Kosovo, one of the main findings is the identification and prioritisation of measures to ensure better protection of Kosovar museums. Structural mitigation measures such as alarm and fire suppression systems are not the only elements necessary to improve the resilience of Kosovar museums to fire. Indeed, the promotion of risk awareness, the training of staff members and the realisation of crisis simulation exercises are just as important in order to prevent and detect a fire, and above all, to respond quickly and accurately if a fire occurs.
Highlights
On 2 September 2018, a fire that lasted more than five hours destroyed almost 90% of the collections in the National Museum of Brazil
The aim of this paper is to present the main results of the fire vulnerability assessments conducted in Kosovo’s museums in 2018
In order to meet the first objective of this study, which is to establish a methodology to assess fire vulnerability of museums in data scarce contexts, a thorough desk review was conducted in order to build on relevant contributions from the existing body of literature, as well as to identify the theoretical foundation for the research and the best practices to increase the resilience of museums to fire
Summary
On 2 September 2018, a fire that lasted more than five hours destroyed almost 90% of the collections in the National Museum of Brazil. The National Museum of Brazil is not an isolated case: even though neither uniform European nor International fire statistics exist, a lot of cultural institutions are prone to fire risk [2,3,4]. Fires remain a key concern as building regulations are often violated and a great number of buildings in Prishtina and in other cities are built too close to each other. It accentuates the risk of fire propagation and impedes fire services from accessing some buildings. Access is often hindered by obstructive parking and narrow entrances, and buildings lack basic fire equipment such as hydrants, ladders, and fire extinguishing equipment [8]
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