Conservation Of Cultural Heritage Sites Research Articles

Climate Change Threats to Stone Cultural Heritage: State of the Art of Quantitative Damage Functions and New Challenges for a Sustainable Future

Climate change effects are a warning of the planetary crises threatening our collective future. This is a topic largely considered in the context of the environmental crisis, but we are now aware that climate change represents an increasingly alarming threat also in terms of the conservation of cultural heritage sites. Cultural heritage preservation should aim to an active environmental and societal strategy built on a renewed ethics of responsibility on long-term effects. This work provides a review of the current state of the art on the damage functions used for assessing the impacts of climate change on stone heritage surfaces. Within this framework, it introduces new concepts such as (i) the Loss of Details (LoD), in terms of the readability reduction of decorative elements and, subsequently, (ii) the Future Cultural Value (FCV), as the capacity of a cultural heritage to transmit its cultural message in its future appearance. The valorization of the historical legacy is a win–win solution to fix new planning tools and to achieve multiple goals oriented to a sustainable development for future generations. From this point of view, plaster cast galleries and museums play a crucial role in preserving cultural identity since they report a careful documentation of the original artifacts and monuments over the time.

The role of local communities in the conservation of cultural heritage sites: A case study of Vietnam

This study examines the significant impact of local community engagement on conserving cultural heritage sites, focusing on active participation, cultural preservation, decision-making, and oversight. Utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) for analysis, it evaluates how community involvement aids in the maintenance and protection of tangible and intangible heritage aspects. Findings reveal substantial improvements in conservation outcomes due to active community participation, highlighting the critical role of local communities in preserving heritage integrity and cultural values. This emphasizes the necessity of grassroots involvement for lasting cultural legacy preservation. Furthermore, the study stresses the importance of incorporating indigenous knowledge and traditions into conservation strategies to ensure culturally relevant and sustainable outcomes. Although based in Vietnam, the implications of this research are global, advocating for inclusive, community-centric conservation practices that emphasize environmental sustainability and cultural significance. This approach signifies a transformative shift towards heritage conservation models that align with local community ethos, offering valuable insights and recommendations for a more integrative and culturally attuned preservation strategy.

Methodological tools for the implementation of projects for the reconstruction of cultural heritage sites, taking into account the reduction of environmental impact

Investment and construction projects to reduce the environmental impact on cultural heritage sites are important, especially in connection with the implementation of the National Project to enhance domestic tourism in Russia. On one hand, there has been significant progress in developing regulatory and technical documentation for cultural heritage sites and their conservation. However, on the other hand, there is an issue with outdated cost estimation methods and normative frameworks for determining the costs, as well. Hence, the role of environmental impact on the cultural heritage sites is underestimated. This problem leads to the need to develop scientific and methodological tools for the implementation of projects for the reconstruction of the cultural heritage sites considering the reduction of the impact of harsh environmental conditions. The authors proposed a logical research design, developed and improved methodological tools for selecting projects for the conservation of cultural heritage sites and assessing the impact of local environment, and tested the proposed methodological tools using the example of a project for the reconstruction of a cultural heritage site in the Moscow region. The authors proposed methods and approaches to reduce the environmental impact on the local cultural heritage sites for better conservation of cultural heritage sites. Within a framework of Russian Federation in total, further study is considered.

APLIKASI TEKNOLOGI AUGMENTED REALITY DALAM KONSERVASI SITUS WARISAN BUDAYA DAN MITIGASI BENCANA GUNUNG GALUNGGUNG JAWA BARAT INDONESIA

The name Galunggung is very well known to the people of Indonesia as the name of the mountain and the name of an Old Sundanese Manuscript. The ancient manuscript of Amanat Galunggung is a manuscript written in the 16th century and contains the teachings of life or local genius of the Sukapura or Tasikmalaya people. Mount Galunggung has experienced several eruptions from 1822 to 1983. The eruption of Mount Galunggung has had a catastrophic impact on the community and provided long term benefits for improving the soil fertility around the Mount Galunggung site such as the Indihiang site. Various disasters that have occurred due to volcanic eruptions in various regions have become a source of learning for the community to mitigate disasters from an early age. This research uses qualitative methods and digital augmented reality techniques. Augmented Reality can be used in visualizing and simulating mountain sites or other cultural heritage sites. The results of this study recommend the application of Augmented Realty technology in the conservation of cultural heritage sites and disaster mitigation as well as the planning program for the nomination of mountain sites in Indonesia for UNESCO’s world cultural heritage by the Indonesian government. Various efforts to develop site conservation with digital 4.0 technology and assistance for local communities involving universities, local governments, museum communities and the cultural arts tourism industry. The use of Augmented Reality can be useful for increasing understanding and learning experiences about cultural sites and heritage in tertiary, primary and secondary education.

APLIKASI TEKNOLOGI AUGMENTED REALITY DALAM KONSERVASI SITUS WARISAN BUDAYA DAN MITIGASI BENCANA GUNUNG GALUNGGUNG JAWA BARAT INDONESIA

The name Galunggung is very well known to the people of Indonesia as the name of the mountain and the name of an Old Sundanese Manuscript. The ancient manuscript of Amanat Galunggung is a manuscript written in the 16th century and contains the teachings of life or local genius of the Sukapura or Tasikmalaya people. Mount Galunggung has experienced several eruptions from 1822 to 1983. The eruption of Mount Galunggung has had a catastrophic impact on the community and provided long term benefits for improving the soil fertility around the Mount Galunggung site such as the Indihiang site. Various disasters that have occurred due to volcanic eruptions in various regions have become a source of learning for the community to mitigate disasters from an early age. This research uses qualitative methods and digital augmented reality techniques. Augmented Reality can be used in visualizing and simulating mountain sites or other cultural heritage sites. The results of this study recommend the application of Augmented Realty technology in the conservation of cultural heritage sites and disaster mitigation as well as the planning program for the nomination of mountain sites in Indonesia for UNESCO’s world cultural heritage by the Indonesian government. Various efforts to develop site conservation with digital 4.0 technology and assistance for local communities involving universities, local governments, museum communities and the cultural arts tourism industry. The use of Augmented Reality can be useful for increasing understanding and learning experiences about cultural sites and heritage in tertiary, primary and secondary education.

THE RESTITUTION PROCESS IN CONSERVATION: DISCOVERING THE HISTORY OF ŞEHİT ALİ PAŞA LIBRARY

Conservation of cultural heritage sites is a multi-phased process, the architectural survey, restitution and restoration. Survey phase begins with the preliminary research and in situ analysis, which are crucial for comprehending the specifications, potentials and architectural characteristic of the site. After architectural survey restitution is carried out to understand the situation in the first period of the site and how it has undergone a change in the historical process. During the restitution studies, alternatives are prepared for various periods by using the traces on the building and archival documents. At the last stage of the conservation process, which is restoration, the interventions for deterioration, repair proposals and spatial organization are determined according to the new/current use. This study focuses on restitution process of Sehit Ali Pasa Library, which is currently located in the garden of Vefa High School in Kalenderhane Neighbourhood and consists of 4 main parts. The first part focuses on general information of the conservation process. In the second part, the historical background, location, spatial organization, construction technique and materials of the building are examined. The restitution or historical analysis process is the main theme of the third part, and all the findings and considerations are evaluated and interpreted in the final part. In this study, all characteristic features and the layers of the cultural heritage are discussed and documented to indicate the importance of architectural survey and restitution interpretation of the conservation process through the Sehit Ali Pasa Library as a multi-layered example. Unfortunately, the findings in the archives or the libraries are limited to propose certain restitution alternatives or precise historical description for this 18th century library, but it is crucial to underline the importance of detailed research process and methodology, architectural survey to prepare a scientific, reasonable, and consistent historical analyses of cultural heritage such as Sehit Ali Pasa Library as a multi-layered and complex building.

Farklı Kurumsal Çerçevelerin Kültürel Mirasın Korunmasında Risk Yönetimi Açısından Karşılaştırması: Birleşik Krallık, Japonya ve Türkiye UNESCO Dünya Miras Alanı Örnekleri

The aim of this study is to investigate different institutional frameworks that deals with the management of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (hereafter WHS) under the threats of natural and technological hazards in other countries in comparison with Turkey. While doing this it is also aimed to figure out the factors that threat those sites. In this regard, first of all the international agenda regarding the conservation of cultural heritage in relation to risk management are discussed. Then, three different countries; namely Japan, U.K. and Turkey are examined with respect to how they consider ‘risk management’ for the conservation of cultural heritage sites. In addition to that, while explaining about the relationships between institutional approaches and factors that UNESCO WHS of those countries are exposed to ‘State of Conservation System’ (hereafter SOC) has been used. According to this investigation it is showed that in the UK case, among 31 UNESCO WHS, 2 of them are facing threats due to natural factors, 18 of them are exposed to threats because of human-induced factors and 14, out of 31 are subject to threats due to institutional factors. In Japan case, 3 of 21 World Heritage Sites are faced with threats because of natural factors, 3 of them are exposed to human-induced factors and 4 are subject to institutional factors. In the case of Turkey, it is observed that 3 of 17 WHS are faced with hazards because of natural factors, 4 are subject to human-induced threats and 7 of them are exposed to institutional factors. However, among instances in three countries, it should be noted that there are three different institutional systems for risk management and the conservation of cultural heritage. In this study those institutional systems have been investigated with their pros and cons as well as similarities and differences. In the scope of this article the investigation has been limited to only 3 case countries so that the result should be accepted as preliminary covering cases from Asia, Europe and Anatolia. Further studies could extend the number of cases investigated in order to have a spectrum of solutions in institutional framework for dealing with risks in WHS.

Community engagement in developing urban design guidance for heritage sites: The case of Bursa, Turkey

In recent years, central and local governments have carried out studies to establish a legal administrative infrastructure for urban design and to develop urban design guidance to preserve the identity of historic cities under the pressure of rapid urbanization in Turkey. The main aim of this article is to explain how we implemented a participatory urban design guidance (PUrDeG) model for cultural heritage sites, which was developed as part of a research project. We explain how we used various techniques to engage various actors in preparing urban design guidelines for a cultural heritage site. In addition, the article discusses the importance of community engagement techniques and processes in developing urban design guidance, and the context of guidelines for sustainable conservation of cultural heritage sites with examples from the United Kingdom and Turkey. It then presents a case study conducted in the Hanlar District, a Unesco world heritage site in Bursa, Turkey. The case study includes research on planning decisions, site analysis, a survey of urban residents, in depth interviews with local artisans, and an urban design workshop with various actors. The main outcomes of this study include a presentation of how to use various community engagement techniques to prepare urban design guidelines for cultural heritage sites in Turkey, an urban design guidance system for Bursa, and a list of recommendations related to urban design guidelines for the Hanlar District and Bursa in the light of UK experience.

IMPACT OF VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE ON ACCESSIBILITY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Abstract. Accessibility plays a main role among the aspects that contribute to the conservation of Cultural Heritage sites. Seismic stability, fragility of the artefacts, conflicts, deterioration, natural disasters, climate change and visitors’ impact are only some of the possible causes that might lead to the inaccessibility of a heritage site for both researchers and visitors.The increasing potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the conservation field has resulted in the development of Augmented and Virtual reality (AR and VR) experiences. These ones can be very effective for what concerns the description of the visual experience, but also improve the understanding of a site and even became analytic research tools.This paper presents an inaccessible Buddhist temple in the Myanmar city of Bagan as a case study for the realization of a VR experience that aims at providing accessibility to knowledge and therefore a better understanding of the cultural value. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the VR for this purpose, a user study has been conducted and its results are reported.

Perencanaan Desain Teknis Situs Megalitikum Gunung Padang Sebagai Objek Wisata Di Kab.Cianjur

Megalithic site of Mount Padang is andent relics that have high value for Indonesia. The site is located 50 kilometers southwest Cianjur, West Java. The research objective was to determine the existence of the site, and planned as a tourism destination that may impact either directly or indirectly to the public. The method used is descriptive not only describe, but also perform the analysis and interpretation of data. The approach used in this study is qualitative. Cultural values that can be contained as various studies and are preferred for the sake of tourism. Conservation of cultural heritage sites as high an initiative of the stakeholders in maintaining, saving and utilizing high cultural value such as social capital and economic assets. The authors suggest that the megalithic site of Mount Padang is a megalithic sites that must be maintained existence. Therefore, the local government in collaboration with local communities are able to maintain and preserve the cultural heritage of the ancestors in order to still be able to enjoy the tourists in the future. In maintaining and rescue cultural heritage sites there should be continuous assessment of the methods and techniques of conservation of various artifacts that the values contained in it maintained its integrity. Methods and techniques that do besides using modern ways as well by utilizing indigenous knowledge usual local communities. In addition to improving the condition of conservation of the site will also be necessary rescue techniques assorted artifacts of the site, in the structuring, storage, and maintenance in order that the objects were well maintained

Virtual tours and informational modeling for conservation of cultural heritage sites

Thorough and organized documentation is crucial for conservation of historic structures. While photogrammetry, laser scanning and building information modeling (BIM) have enhanced 3D documentation in conservation, it is imperative that the method of documentation matches the requirements of the project. Present methods are efficient for certain types of projects. However, for projects that need to depict 3D conservation challenges, but do not have the budget or time for a 3D model, a middle ground does not exist. We present an intermediate solution, a workflow for virtual tour environments (VT) and informational modeling (IM) and we test this workflow on a case study. The VT/IM environment we created contains building plans, previous conservation reports, image galleries, databases about past interventions and short descriptions of the conservation issues at Princeton University. In this paper, we compare conservation reports using 2D plans against the VT/IM environment and we compare the time, cost and data management of VT/IM with methods of 3D documentation.

Surface Motion and Structural Instability Monitoring of Ming Dynasty City Walls by Two-Step Tomo-PSInSAR Approach in Nanjing City, China

Spaceborne Multi-Temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry (MT-InSAR) has been a valuable tool in mapping motion phenomena in different scenarios. Recently, the capabilities of MT-InSAR for risk monitoring and preventive analysis of heritage sites have increasingly been exploited. Considering the limitations of conventional MT-InSAR techniques, in this study a two-step Tomography-based Persistent Scatterers (PS) Interferometry (Tomo-PSInSAR) approach is proposed for monitoring ground deformation and structural instabilities over the Ancient City Walls (Ming Dynasty) in Nanjing city, China. For the purpose of this study we utilized 26 Stripmap acquisitions from TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X missions, spanning from May 2013 to February 2015. As a first step, regional-scale surface deformation rates on single PSs were derived (ranging from −40 to +5 mm/year) and used for identifying deformation hotspots as well as for the investigation of a potential correlation between urbanization and the occurrence of surface subsidence. As a second step, structural instability parameters of ancient walls (linear motion rates, non-linear motions and material thermodynamics) were estimated by an extended four-dimensional Tomo-PSInSAR model. The model applies a two-tier network strategy; that is, the detection of most reliable single PSs in the first-tier Delaunay triangulation network followed by the detection of remaining single PSs and double PSs on the second-tier local star network referring to single SPs extracted in the first-tier network. Consequently, a preliminary phase calibration relevant to the Atmospheric Phase Screen (APS) is not needed. Motion heterogeneities in the spatial domain, either caused by thermal kinetics or displacement trends, were also considered. This study underlines the potential of the proposed Tomo-PSInSAR solution for the monitoring and conservation of cultural heritage sites. The proposed approach offers a quantitative indicator to local authorities and planners for assessing potential damages as well as for the design of remediation activities.

Monitoring Cultural Heritage Sites with Advanced Multi-Temporal InSAR Technique: The Case Study of the Summer Palace

Cultural heritage sites are rare and irreplaceable wealth of human civilization. The majority of them are becoming unstable due to a combination of human and natural disturbances. High-precision, efficient deformation monitoring facilitates the early recognition of potential risks and enables preventive diagnosis of heritage sites. In this study, an advanced Multi-Temporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MTInSAR) approach was developed by jointly analyzing Persistent Scatterers (PSs) and Distributed Scatterers (DSs) using high-resolution SAR images. Taking the World Heritage Site of Summer Palace in Beijing as the experimental site, deformation resulting from PSs/DSs showed that overall the site was generally stable except for specific areas and/or monuments. Urbanization (construction and demolition) triggered new subsidence in the vicinity of East and South Gate of the site. Slight to moderate (mm/cm-level) instabilities of ruins and monuments on Longevity Hill were detected, perhaps due to a combination of destructive anthropogenic activities and long-term natural decay. Subsidence was also detected along the Kunming Lakeside and was probably attributable to variation of the groundwater level, excessive visitor numbers as well as lack of maintenance. This study presents the potential of the MTInSAR approach for the monitoring and conservation of cultural heritage sites.

The Impact of Israeli Occupation on the Conservation of Cultural Heritage Sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: The Case of 'Salvage Excavations'

Palestinian archaeological sites are among the most excavated and fragile sites in the world. After Israel occupied the Palestinian Territories (OPTs) in 1967, the responsibility for archaeology was placed in the hands of the Israeli military, exacerbating the deterioration of Palestinian heritage. International law has been breached and Palestinian heritage abused by countless illegal Israeli archaeological investigations, destruction of heritage sites, and illicit trafficking of artefacts. Although The Hague Convention (UNESCO 1954) is an important tool for protecting the heritage of occupied people, it has a vague definition of 'salvage excavation'. Israel has used this vagueness to serve its illegal actions of building settlements and roads, and the destruction of archaeological sites in the OPTs.In 2000, during the al-Aqsa Intifada, Palestinian heritage was destroyed by the military operations of the Israeli army. They deliberately demolished the historic centres of Nablus and Hebron, and subsequently constructed the separation wall inside the OPTs, causing unprecedented and irreversible damage to Palestinian heritage. The separation wall also cuts off hundreds of archaeological sites annexed to Israel or to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.International law considers it the explicit duty of Israel, since they are the occupying power, to combat clandestine excavation and to conserve and protect Palestinian heritage. Since 1967, Israel has monopolised archaeological activities in the OPTs, without taking into consideration basic protection and conservation means used worldwide. Thus the basic human rights of Palestinians have been violated and their heritage severely damaged, depriving them of appropriately conserving, investigating, and enjoying their own heritage.