Cultural heritage preservation

Historic structures often feature extraordinary architecture, design or material. They stand up to human generations over many decades, centuries or even millennia. To conserve historic structures it is necessary to better understand the deterioration processes mainly caused by the environment, which is also a subject of change. The real alteration of the environment and the characterization of its impact on the historic structures or materials is very complex and, thus, often left out of account. However, climate change, conversion of historic buildings, and energy efficiency in historic buildings are topical aspects our generation must consider in its measures for preservation. Thus, conservation of historic structures for future European generations is seen to be an important challenge, especially with respect to the limited financial resources. The workshop brought together European activities and initiatives that capture the latest research and development in the field of cultural heritage preservation. It presents results from smaller national research projects but also ongoing European collaborative projects funded by the European Commission. The topics covered include: Smart monitoring methods and technologies (wireless sensor systems, advanced sensors and sensor technologies) Non-destructive and minimally-invasive test methods for the evaluation and assessment of historic structures Determination and assessment of the impact of climate change on cultural heritage objects (climate evolution scenarios, prediction models, preventive measures and mitigation strategies) Simulation and modelling tools for historic buildings and building materials (enhanced coupled models for deterioration processes and assessment, taking into account the real environment) Tools and strategies for enhanced management, conservation, preservation and maintenance of cultural heritage structures Case studies of preservation and conservation methods and techniques applied to historic structures.