United States Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS-USA) is one of numerous national subsidiary committees of ICOMOS, forming a worldwide alliance for the study and conservation of historic buildings, districts, and sites. It is the focus of international cultural resources exchange in the United States, working to share preservation information and expertise worldwide. It also highlights and interprets the unique American preservation system: the partnership between private organizations and federal, state, and local governments, and the cooperation between the academic community, professionals and civic volunteers.
ICOMOS-USA is one of the largest national committees of ICOMOS, comprising over 500 members in the United States and abroad. As the primary preservation organization with a global focus in the United States, ICOMOS-USA serves as the principle gateway for the participation of U.S. preservation professionals in worldwide heritage conservation. The organization guides and promotes activities through an extensive membership network of preservation professionals, institutions, and organizations, including specialized scientific committees. ICOMOS-USA also organizes an annual international scientific symposium, an International Intern Exchange Program, and occasional special training courses and workshops.
ICOMOS-USA is supported by World Heritage USA, which raises funds and organizes and carries out activities and programs on behalf of ICOMOS-USA. Learn more about ICOMOS-USA at www.ICOMOS-USA.org and about World Heritage USA at www.WorldHeritageUSA.org.
The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property, including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include preventive conservation, examination, documentation, research, treatment, and education. This field is closely allied with conservation science, curators and registrars.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the world. Now headquartered in Charenton-le-Pont, France, ICOMOS was founded in 1965 in Warsaw as a result of the Venice Charter of 1964 and offers advice to UNESCO on World Heritage Sites.
World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training.
The United States Department of State Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) is responsible for overseeing the construction, management, and operations of U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world.
Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philosophical concept that became popular in the twentieth century, which maintains that cities as products of centuries' development should be obligated to protect their patrimonial legacy. The term refers specifically to the preservation of the built environment, and not to preservation of, for example, primeval forests or wilderness.
Conservation and restoration of immovable cultural property describes the process through which the material, historical, and design integrity of any immovable cultural property are prolonged through carefully planned interventions. The individual engaged in this pursuit is known as an architectural conservator-restorer. Decisions of when and how to engage in an intervention are critical to the ultimate conservation-restoration of cultural heritage. Ultimately, the decision is value based: a combination of artistic, contextual, and informational values is normally considered. In some cases, a decision to not intervene may be the most appropriate choice.
The Valletta Treaty (formally the European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage (Revised), also known as the Malta Convention) is a multilateral treaty of the Council of Europe. The 1992 treaty aims to protect the European archaeological heritage "as a source of European collective memory and as an instrument for historical and scientific study". All remains and objects and any other traces of humankind from past times are considered to be elements of the archaeological heritage. The archaeological heritage shall include structures, constructions, groups of buildings, developed sites, moveable objects, monuments of other kinds as well as their context, whether situated on land or under water." (Art. 1)
The Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites is a set of guidelines, drawn up in 1964 by a group of conservation professionals in Venice, that provides an international framework for the conservation and restoration of historic buildings. However, the document is now seen as outdated, representing Modernist views opposed to reconstruction. Reconstruction is now cautiously accepted by UNESCO in exceptional circumstances if it seeks to reflect a pattern of use or cultural practice that sustains cultural value, and is based on complete documentation without reliance on conjecture. The change in attitude can be marked by the reconstruction in 2015 of the Sufi mausoleums at the Timbuktu World Heritage Site in Mali after their destruction in 2012.
Australia ICOMOS is a peak cultural heritage conservation body in Australia. It is a branch of the United Nations-sponsored International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a non-government professional organisation promoting expertise in the conservation of place-based cultural heritage. Its secretariat is based at the Cultural Heritage Centre for Asia and the Pacific at Deakin University.
Docomomo International is a non-profit organization whose full title is: International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement.
The US/ICOMOS International Exchange Program is an exchange program for young professions in historic preservation through the United States National Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites. The aim of the program is to promote an understanding of international preservation policies, methods and techniques that lead to a continuing dialogue between countries. As of 2007, nearly 600 young preservation professionals and over 70 countries have participated in this program since its creation in 1984.
A conservator-restorer is a professional responsible for the preservation of artistic and cultural artifacts, also known as cultural heritage. Conservators possess the expertise to preserve cultural heritage in a way that retains the integrity of the object, building or site, including its historical significance, context and aesthetic or visual aspects. This kind of preservation is done by analyzing and assessing the condition of cultural property, understanding processes and evidence of deterioration, planning collections care or site management strategies that prevent damage, carrying out conservation treatments, and conducting research. A conservator's job is to ensure that the objects in a museum's collection are kept in the best possible condition, as well as to serve the museum's mission to bring art before the public.
The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) is a global organisation for conservation and restoration professionals with over two thousand members in over fifty countries. IIC seeks to promote the knowledge, methods and working standards needed to protect and preserve historic and artistic works throughout the world.
The World Heritage Convention, formally the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, is an international treaty signed on 23 November 1972, which created the World Heritage Sites, with the primary goals of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural properties. The convention, a signed document of international agreement, guides the work of the World Heritage Committee. It was developed over a seven-year period (1965–1972).
The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide through training, information, research, cooperation and advocacy programmes. It aims to enhance the field of conservation-restoration and raise awareness to the importance and fragility of cultural heritage.
In historic preservation, sustainable preservation is the idea that preservation has tangible ecological benefits, on the basis that the most sustainable building is one that is already built. Historic buildings can have advantages over new construction with their often central location, historic building materials, and unique characteristics of craftsmanship. Arguing for these connections is at least partially an outgrowth of the green building movement with its emphasis on new construction. Sustainable preservation borrows many of the same principles of sustainable architecture, though is unique by focusing on older buildings versus new construction. The term "sustainable preservation" is also utilized to refer to the preservation of global heritage, archaeological and historic sites through the creation of economically sustainable businesses which support such preservation, such as the Sustainable Preservation Initiative and the Global Heritage Fund.
The U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS), founded in 2006, is the United States national committee of the Blue Shield. The Blue Shield was formed according to the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which specifies a symbol of a blue shield for marking protected cultural property. The Blue Shield, of which USCBS is a member, is an organization of affiliated national committees from nations around the globe.
Princess Dana Firas is a Jordanian princess and the wife of Prince Firas bin Ra'ad. She is a global advocate for heritage protection and preservation as a foundation for development, responsible tourism, identity and political participation, and peacebuilding. She is the wife of Prince Firas bin Ra'ad, the son of Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid and Princess Majda Ra'ad.
The International Scientific Committee on Cultural Landscapes (ISCCL) is a committee of scientific experts on cultural landscapes that works, as a part of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), to develop international guidance on cultural landscape documentation and management, and to prepare expert recommendations for prospective World Heritage nominations. The committee functions as a joint effort with members from both ICOMOS and the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).
The Association for Preservation Technology International (APT) is a not-for-profit, multidisciplinary, membership organization dedicated to promoting the best technology for conserving and preserving historic structures and their settings. Founded in 1968 by preservationists from Canada and the United States, it now has 1,500 members from 30 countries, with headquarters in Springfield, Illinois. APT’s activities include conferences, training and education programs, and publications on the technical aspects of preservation.
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