scholarly journals The effect of Underground Water on Heritage Sites (A case Study on Graeco-Roman Cemeteries in Alexandria)

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-78
Author(s):  
Mervat Amin
Keyword(s):  
Underground Water ◽  
Heritage Sites

scholarly journals Qualitative Fire Vulnerability Assessments for Museums and Their Collections: A Case Study from Kosovo

Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 11
Author(s):  
Charlotte Fafet ◽  
Erinë Mulolli Zajmi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Risk Awareness ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Suppression Systems ◽  
Simulation Exercises

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.

scholarly journals Google Earth Engine as Multi-Sensor Open-Source Tool for Supporting the Preservation of Archaeological Areas: The Case Study of Flood and Fire Mapping in Metaponto, Italy

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1791
Author(s):  
Carmen Fattore ◽  
Nicodemo Abate ◽  
Farid Faridani ◽  
Nicola Masini ◽  
Rosa Lasaponara
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Unsupervised Classification ◽  
Google Earth ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Cultural Properties ◽  
Google Earth Engine ◽  
Archaeological Areas ◽  
The Impact

In recent years, the impact of Climate change, anthropogenic and natural hazards (such as earthquakes, landslides, floods, tsunamis, fires) has dramatically increased and adversely affected modern and past human buildings including outstanding cultural properties and UNESCO heritage sites. Research about protection/monitoring of cultural heritage is crucial to preserve our cultural properties and (with them also) our history and identity. This paper is focused on the use of the open-source Google Earth Engine tool herein used to analyze flood and fire events which affected the area of Metaponto (southern Italy), near the homonymous Greek-Roman archaeological site. The use of the Google Earth Engine has allowed the supervised and unsupervised classification of areas affected by flooding (2013–2020) and fire (2017) in the past years, obtaining remarkable results and useful information for setting up strategies to mitigate damage and support the preservation of areas and landscape rich in cultural and natural heritage.

scholarly journals The Case Study of the Medieval Town Walls of Gubbio in Italy: First Results on the Characterization of Mortars and Binders

Heritage ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 468-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Carvalho ◽  
Andreia Lopes ◽  
Antonella Curulli ◽  
Teresa da Silva ◽  
Maria Lima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polarized Light ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
First Results ◽  
Restoration Practices ◽  
Climate Events

Good conservation and restoration practices of cultural heritage assets rely on the knowledge of original materials. In the framework of the HERACLES Project (HERACLES—HEritage Resilience Against CLimate Events on Site, H2020 Grant Agreement 700395), dealing with the effects of climatic actions and natural hazards on built heritage, a set of important heritage sites are currently under study to improve their resilience against climate events. Among these are the medieval Gubbio Town Walls in Italy. The present work focuses on the mortars and binders of this monument and collected samples related to different parts of the Walls, corresponding to various historical periods of construction and interventions. They were characterized to determine their minerochemical composition, thermal behavior, and morphology. For that purpose, ex-situ laboratory techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF), optical microscopy (OM), polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and simultaneous differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetry (TG-DTA) were used to discern trends in different sampling areas due to construction/reconstruction periods and building techniques.

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

Urbani izziv ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (30) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Sibel Polat ◽  
H. Özge Tümer Yıldız
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Urban Design ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Guidance System ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Design Guidance

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.

scholarly journals A comparative case study of MTInSAR approaches for deformation monitoring of the cultural landscape of the Shanhaiguan section of the Great Wall

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Xu ◽  
Fulong Chen ◽  
Wei Zhou
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Linear Structure ◽  
Deformation Monitoring ◽  
Sar Interferometry ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Rock Falls ◽  
High Resolution Data ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Great Wall

Abstract The Great Wall of China is one of the largest architectural heritage sites globally, and its sustainability is a significant concern. However, its large extent and diverse characteristics cause challenges for deformation monitoring. In this study, the Shanhaiguan section of the Great Wall was investigated in a case study to ascertain the damage and potential hazards of the architectural site. Two standard multi-temporal synthetic aperture radar interferometry (MTInSAR) technologies, including persistent scatterer SAR interferometry (PSInSAR) and small baseline subset (SBAS) SAR interferometry, were used for deformation monitoring using high-resolution TerraSAR-X data acquired in 2015–2017. The results of the two MTInSAR approaches revealed the health condition of the Great Wall. The Shanhaiguan section was stable, but local instabilities caused by rock falls were detected in some mountainous areas. In addition, the applicability of PSInSAR and SBAS was evaluated. The performance analysis of the two approaches indicated that a more reliable and adaptable MTInSAR technique needs to be developed for monitoring the Great Wall. This study demonstrates the potential of MTInSAR technology with high-resolution data for the health diagnosis of heritage sites with a linear structure, such as the Great Wall.

scholarly journals The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Using good and Cooperative Governance to improve Environmental Governance of South African World Heritage sites: A Case Study of the Vredefort Dome

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 201
Author(s):  
Louis Kotzé ◽  
S De la Harpe
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Sites ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Governance Strategies ◽  
Cooperative Governance

South Africa became a signatory to and ratified the World Heritage Convention, 1972 (WHC) in 1997. It thereby voluntarily agreed to identify and conserve world heritage areas of universal value for the benefit of mankind. This article presents a case study of the Vredefort Dome, one of South Africa's World Heritage Sites (WHS) and specifically its governance strategies to ensure proper and sustainable governance. Firstly, the issue of fragmentation of the environmental governance regime applicable to WHS is discussed, and in doing so, refers to the various legislative and common law responsibilities and institutional structures related to environmental governance of WHS. Secondly, it briefly discusses the concept of good governance and the concept of cooperative governance as a sub-component of good governance. Finally it comprehensively proposes various strategies to ameliorate the current fragmented and unsustainable environmental governance effort relating to WHS.

scholarly journals Seeing Eye to Eye? The presentation and understanding of interpretation at a New Zealand heritage site

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elise Caddigan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Heritage Sites ◽  
Visitor Satisfaction ◽  
Heritage Site ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Perception Of Quality ◽  
A Site ◽  
International Visitors

<p>Old St Paul’s is an iconic New Zealand heritage site managed by Heritage New Zealand.¹ It is a site that tells both national and local stories and draws a wide range of international and domestic visitors. Key recommendations made by the New Zealand Ministry of Tourism in their 2010 and 2015 strategies were that the country is no longer automatically perceived as ‘authentic’² by international visitors, and that heritage in New Zealand should be striving to deliver engaging, educational and rich cultural and social experiences.  Using Old St. Paul’s as a case study, this research asks if New Zealand heritage sites are providing exhibitions, interpretation and stories that successfully communicate the site management’s presentation goals to visitors. This relationship is evaluated through the exhibitions and interpretation used by site management, and compared with visitor understanding and their experience of these.  This research uses interviews and visitor surveys to gauge the management/visitor relationship at Old St. Paul’s. An in-depth interview with the site’s manager is analysed and presented comparatively against the results gained from conducting visitor surveys. This research provides an investigation into contemporary heritage practice in New Zealand and offers a pilot study for future development in the heritage sector. Furthermore, it is suggested that heritage sites could adopt similar summative practices to those used in the museum sector in order to monitor visitor satisfaction and the perception of quality.</p>

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