dieAngewandte | 
UNESCO-Chair + Activities
Visit to the World Heritage GREAT SPA TOWN Baden bei Wien
A one-day excursion took students and employees of the institute to Baden at the end of April. Together with ten other spa towns in Europe, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021. Together with World Heritage Site Manager Alexandra Harrer and City Councillor Hans Hornyik, the attributes that make up the Outstanding Universal Value of this site were explored during the city walk and the challenges of preserving, managing and communicating this serial transnational heritage, the Great Spa Towns of Europe, were discussed. The excursion participants learnt more about the essential spa culture in Baden during a visit to the “freshly filled” exhibition in the Kaiserhaus.
Networking Meeting of the Austrian UNESCO Chairs
Shortly before the end of the year, the chairs met at the Josephinum at the invitation of the UNESCO Commission. Following reports on recent activities, ideas for future joint projects were exchanged and opportunities for co-operation explored. There are currently 10 UNESCO Chairs in Austria and more are in preparation. Our Chair for the Conservation Preservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage has been established at the Angewandte since 2019.
19 December 2023, Josephinum Vienna
World Heritage in Focus
UNESCO Chair on Conservation and Preservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage guest at the 18th Austrian World Heritage Conference
18th Austrian World Heritage Sites Conference
12-13 October 2023, Hallstatt
Managing and conserving our UNESCO World Heritage in a sustainable way – this complex topic is the focus of the 18th Austrian World Heritage Conference, which will take place this year from 12-13 October in Hallstatt. The Institute of Conservation, to which the UNESCO Chair has been affiliated since 2019, will participate again as in previous years in order to bring the perspective of conservation into the discussion and to further intensify the exchange with representatives and managers of the Austrian World Heritage Sites.
13 years of conservation commitment in Nepal
… and it goes on!
The Institute of Conservation looks back on a busy August. For one month, a 17-member team was once again active in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Patan Durbar Square and Royal Palace. Under the direction of Prof. Krist and teachers from the Institute, students of conservation and the CHCM Joint Masters worked together with Nepalese students and local museum staff on terracotta reliefs of the Narashima Temple, the fire-gilded metal decorative elements of the Degutaleju Temple and a wall painting in Bhaktapur. At the same time, the collection care at the Patan Museum was successfully completed. After more than 13 years of engagement in Nepal, it is far from over and the Institute is working with its long-time partner, the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, to continue the campaigns in 2024!
/// 50 YEARS OF WORLD HERITAGE /
30 YEARS OF RATIFICATION IN AUSTRIA
ANGEWANDTE AT CELEBRATIONS IN BADEN AND SALZBURG
This year two anniversaries in connection with the UNESCO World Heritage: the 50th anniversary of the World Heritage
Convention and its ratification by Austria 30 years ago. The Institute of Conservation and the UNESCO Chair on Conservation and Preservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage are present at the World Heritage Sites Conference and the ceremony in Baden in October and will participate with a lecture on climate change and cultural heritage at the World Heritage Conference in Salzburg in November.
Dates:
17. Österreichische Welterbestätten-Konferenz (Austrian World Heritage Sites Conferences), 19.-20.10.2022, Baden
bei Wien
Welterbekonferenz (World Heritage Conference) „25 Jahre Welterbe Historische Altstadt von
Salzburg”, 10.-11.11.2022, Salzburg
Back on track – First major conservation campaign in Patan after the pandemic
After a somewhat longer pandemic-related break in major work, a conservation campaign took place again this summer (16.8.-12.09.2022) in Patan, Nepal! The team of staff, alumni and students of conservation and the Joint Masters CHCM started with the conservation of the numerous fire-gilded metal decoration elements and pinnacles of the Degutaleju Temple. In the Patan Museum, the collection care was continued and the Tantric shrine, one of the exhibition highlights, was surveyed and treated. The wallpaintings in the Sundari Chowk, which had already been conserved in the 2010s, underwent renewed care and surface cleaning, and minor earthquake-related damage was treated.
/// World Heritage Day 2022 –
Guided tour of the Votivkirche Museum and the Votivekirche
18.04-.2022, 14:00
As part of World Heritage Day on 18 April, the Institute of Conservation together with Reverend Joe Farrugia, invites you to an exclusive guided tour of the newly erected museum in the Votivkirche in Vienna.
The Votivkirche is not only the only sacred building, but also the first monumental building on Vienna’s Ringstrasse. The Ring, a magnificent boulevard with representative buildings, was built from 1857 onwards in the course of the city’s expansion to replace the defensive structures and the glacis around the city, which had become obsolete. The decision to build the Votivkirche on its present site was made even before the official start of the city expansion, which is why it occupies a special place in the historicist Ringstrasse architecture.
Today’s museum is located in the raised oratory behind the altar – a room originally reserved for the imperial couple. On display are not only valuable liturgical instruments, some of which were designed by the architect Ferstel himself with the aim of creating a total work of art. The impressive stained glass designs can also be marvelled at.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is the late Gothic Antwerp Passion Altar, which was thoroughly examined and restored as part of a diploma thesis at the Institute.
The Institute of Conservation, under the direction of Professor Gabriela Krist, played a leading role in the conception of the new exhibition. The objects were conserved by staff, students and graduates of the Institute.
Dr. Johanna Runkel and Pastor Joe Farrugia will be the guides.
The exhibition is accessible – not barrier-free – via a spiral staircase.
Registration is required at
Focus on UNESCO World Heritage in the new Joint Master CHCM
In spring 2022, the new Joint Master Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management started with 13 international students. Project and site management as well as the conservation of World Heritage are some of the focal points of the 3-semester postgraduate programme. Here, the experience and competences of the UNESO Chair as well as the good networking and (inter)national contacts can be drawn upon. At the Angewandte in Vienna as well as at the Silpakorn in Bangkok, a number of new courses will be offered that are dedicated to these topics.
/// Joint Master Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management
The new study programme of Angewandte and the Thai Silpakorn University International College enables graduates of conservation-restoration to develop and refine competences and gain on-hand experience in international project work, teaching and didactics of conservation, project and site management, and the preservation of World Heritage and cultural property in South (East) Asia.
/// Providing Expertise – World Heritage Historic Centre of Vienna
On 16 November 2020, invited experts discussed how research, communication and capacity building can enhance efforts to preserve the outstanding universal value (OUV) of the historic centre of Vienna, a World Heritage Site. Further, ways of information transfer and raising awareness for World Heritage were addressed in the meeting.
/// World Heritage Summer Academy 2020
2 Weeks – 6 UNESCO World Heritage Sites – 6 Universities
From 1 to 12 July six of the overall ten UNESCO World Heritage sites in Austria had been visited: the historic centres of Salzburg, Graz and Vienna, Palace Schönbrunn as well as the cultural landscapes of Wachau and Semmering Railway. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage were focused equally. The topics ranged from preservation, conservation-restoration to urban development and conflicts in town planning, management and cultural tourism as well as cultural communication and education. The broad spectrum of issues enabled the 22 participating students an intensive discussion of World Heritage in all its facets and from different angles.
The Institute of Conservation and the UNESCO Chair on Conservation and Preservation of Tangible Cultural Heritage were involved as organisers for the second time.
/// First Meeting of the Austrian UNESCO-Chair holders
Initiated by Chair holder Gabriela Krist all Austrian UNESCO-Chair holders together with the General secretary Mag. Patrizia Jankovic and staff of the Austrian UNESCO Commission came together on 15 May in the virtual space. The meeting showed the broad range of disciplines and expertise on UNESCO topics.
/// Workshop Preventive Conservation and First-Aid for Archaeological Collections
Besides the successful collaboration with the Napier Museum in Trivandrum, Kerala, another workshop took place in this state in March (4-6 March 2020), this time in Kodungallur, namely the first workshop with Muziris Heritage Project and the Government of Kerala. Focus was on archaeological items and collections from excavations on the coast of Kerala. Preventive conservation, collection care and first-aid measures for archaeological objects were among the topics discussed.
/// Conservation Campaign Nepal
In February (13 – 26 February 2020) a 4-person team of students and a senior conservator was in Patan, Nepal, to conclude the conservation-restoration of fire-gilded metal decoration and pinnacles at Bhimsen Temple. It was the already ninth conservation campaign after the severe quakes in 2015, which was financially supported by the Austrian Government.
/// Workshop in New Delhi
‘Textiles on Storage’ was the first workshop with focus on textile collections, which was jointly organized between the Institute of Conservation, the UNESCO Chair and the Indian partners, the Indira Ghandi National Centre for the Arts and the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, in the capital of India. 30 participants attended and dealt with collection care, condition assessment, storages as well as handling, storing, packing and cleaning of textile objects.
/// Lecture Series “World Heritage Convention”
Continuation of the lecture series from Bruno Maldoner in summer term 2020 revolving around World Heritage and the World Heritage Convention.
/// International UNESCO Chair Conference and Meeting
“Linking education, transdisciplinarity and international partnership –
UNESCO Chairs for a sustainable future”
The first International Meeting of UNESCO Chairs took place from 2 to 4 December 2019 in Wuppertal, Germany. On behalf of the Chair Martina Haselberger participated and used the gathering for networking and exchange.
/// Excursion Wachau
The excursion on 11 October led the almost 50 participants through the impressive Wachau cultural landscape, from Spitz to Melk abbey. Beside management and use of World Heritage sites, cultural landscapes, conservation and cultural property protection in the context of World Heritage were addressed.
/// Viennese Workshop on Reconstruction
The first Viennese Workshop on Reconstruction on 29 September, the Monuments’ Day in Austria, was dedicated to conflicts, challenges and needs around the rehabilitation, reconstruction and rebuilding of cultural heritage.
Gabriela Krist and Martina Haselberger spoke about the conservation and reconstruction projects in Nepal, Bruno Maldoner addressed the reconstruction work in Vienna after the Second World War in his speech. Among the other lecturers were representatives of the Austrian UNESCO Commission, the Austrian Committee of the Blue Shield and ICOM Austria.
/// Conservation Campaign Nepal
From 10 August to 9 September, a 12-person team of students and senior conservators was again in Patan, Nepal, to contribute to the conservation of earthquake-damaged cultural heritage. It was the already eighth conservation campaign after the severe quakes in 2015, which was financially supported by the Austrian Government.
/// Summer University 2019
Participation and involvement in the Summer University „World Heritage – Cultural Management – Cultural Communication“, a cooperation between the University of Vienna (Friedrich Schipper), the University of Salzburg (Kurt Luger) and the University of Graz (Eva Klein), which led the participants to the World Heritage sites in Salzburg, Vienna and Graz.
/// Einweihung des UNESCO-Lehrstuhls
Official inauguration of the UNESCO-Chair on 11 April in the university gallery Heiligenkreuzer Hof in the framework of the photo-exhibition “Preserving a Legacy“.
Institute of
Conservation
Salzgries 14
1st, 3rd, 4th & 5th floor
1010 Wien
