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From November 12th to 22nd, 2023, experts from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) took part in a field school in Elephantine, offered by the KulturGutRetter project and the Cairo Department of the German

The emergency conservation of mobile and immobile cultural heritage was tested in a fictive disaster scenario involving staff of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), the Leibniz Research Institute for Archaeology (LEIZA) and the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). The large-scale field test took place in Dresden on 18 and 19 October 2023 and was undertaken as part of the KulturGutRetter project (Cultural Heritage Response Unit – CHRU).

The KulturGutRetter project (KGR – Cultural Heritage Response Unit) is developing a workflow to collect and manage data in a seamless manner for the emergency rescue of cultural heritage.

During a one-day workshop in Mainz in June 2023, 28 cultural heritage professionals from various Leibniz Research Museums and from the Mainz Notfallverbund were familiarized with the KulturGutRetter response mechanism and tested its modular equipment for the emergency conservation of movable cultural heritage.

KulturGutRetter is developing technical characteristics for procedures, teams and equipment, enabling the Unit to cover the tasks of damage assessment, evacuation of movable heritage, and emergency intervention on movable and immovable heritage.

Specialists of the Cultural Heritage Response Unit (KGR) at Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA) are developing and trialling a multifunctional, scalable and air-transportable system for salvaging cultural property in disasters.

Our team wishes you all the best for the new year! 2022 was a very eventful year. In our review of the year, we offer an insight into the work of the Cultural Heritage Response Unit project.

The German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), both partners of the KulturGutRetter, are involved in the PROCULTHER-NET project.

Aid from the Cultural Heritage Response Unit’s logistics network of the DAI, THW and other partners consisting of about 10 tonnes of packaging material and supplies for the protection of collections, libraries, monuments and museums in Ukraine has been distributed to 13 cultural institutions.

A delivery of aid from the Cultural Heritage Response Unit’s logistics network with about 10 tonnes of packaging material and supplies for the protection of collections, libraries, monuments and museums in Ukraine has reached Kyiv.

The German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Cultural Heritage Response Unit, supported by the DAI, the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (LEIZA), have, in collaboration with other cultural institutions, set up a logistics network to deliver material assistance for the safeguarding of museums, archives and monuments in Ukraine. The Federal Foreign Office supports these aid supplies, which supplement measures taken as part of the initiative Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Ukraine.

Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Busen, building historian and ArcHerNet coordinator, and the archaeologist and IT specialist Dr. Bernhard Fritsch (KulturGutRetter, DAI) speak together in the interview below about digital apps that are developed within the KulturGutRetter project for safeguarding cultural property during crises.

The German KulturGutRetter-project and the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums practise the saving of mobile cultural heritage with prototypes of rescue modules for the documentation and conservation of objects of cultural heritage.

One year after the devastating explosion in Beirut, experts gathered for the workshop “Built Heritage in Crisis” where they discussed their experiences on site and the challenges they were confronted with in the crisis situation. The experts were invited to the workshop by the German Archaeological Institute and the KulturGutRetter project.

The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) is an important partner in the development of KulturGutRetter and thus also in efforts to protect endangered cultural heritage. The coordinator of the project KulturGutRetter (KGR) – An Emergency Mechanism for Cultural Heritage in Crisis Situations at the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Christoph Rogalla von Bieberstein, recently completed basic technical training with the THW alongside his work at the DAI.

The sixth Lange Nacht der Ideen (“Long night of Ideas”) took place on 7 June 2021, under the heading Wie bald ist morgen? (“how soon is tomorrow?”). At the event the cultural heritage rescue unit KulturGutRetter presented its project KulturGutRetter in Action – Demonstration of an Emergency Salvage Operation.

Experts from the KulturGutRetter project travelled with the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief to Beirut. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Friederike Fless, President of the German Archaeological Institute, speaks about the KulturGutRetter operation. The project is currently being developed in the framework of the Archaeological Heritage Network.