| ■Tokyo National Research
Institute for Cultural Properties |
■Center for Conservation
Science |
| ■Department of Art Research,
Archives and Information Systems |
■Japan Center for
International Cooperation in Conservation |
| ■Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage |
|
Panel Discussion
The Japan Consortium for International Cooperation in Cultural Heritage (JCIC-Heritage) held its 13th Seminar, “Developing a new partnership for a comprehensive approach to international cooperation for cultural heritage protection” on Thursday, September 5, 2013, at the Independent Administrative Institution National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. Efforts by private organizations to protect cultural heritage have increasingly garnered public attention, but there are few opportunities to hear and discuss the principles and objectives of those organizations. Given this situation, JCIC-Heritage recognized the need to consider cooperation with various private organizations and the need to discern their efforts in different academic disciplines, thus leading JCIC-Heritage to hold this Seminar.
OGIWARA Yasuko , Executive Secretary of the Kigyo Mécénat Kyogikai (KMK, Association for Corporate Support of the Arts), started the seminar with a lecture entitled “Corporate Support of Art and Culture: Its Varied Forms and Current State” that focused on a review of activities by the Mécénat in which their corporate members played a central role. Ms. Ogiwara also analyzed the current state of those activities and she described recent changes and the potential for future activities by the Mécénat.
HIRAO Kashuku , the head of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co., Ltd., gave a lecture entitled “Art Conservation Projects by Bank of America Merrill Lynch .” Ms. Hirao described projects to protect cultural properties implemented with the cooperation of the Tokyo National Museum. She also explained the significance and objectives of CSR activities by companies and the ripple effects of projects resulting from partnerships.
MINO Yasuhisa , Executive Director at the Sumitomo Foundation, gave a lecture entitled “Grants from the Sumitomo Foundation for Projects to Protect, Restore, and Preserve Cultural Properties.” Mr. Mino described the background for the Foundation’s establishment, its characteristics, and his experience with grants for projects to protect cultural heritage over the past 20 years.
SHIMA Nobuhiko, a journalist, moderated a panel discussion including all of the speakers as well as KOMIYA Hiroshi , Senior director at the Foundation for Cultural Heritage and Art Research. This discussion provided an opportunity to consider future actors working to protect cultural heritage. A wide range of topics was discussed, including the difficulties of continuing projects and their importance, economic conditions and the nature of support, partnerships formed by project participants, and leadership needed to manage projects.
An explanation at the Radiography Laboratory (August 30)
Thirteen visitaors from ICCROM’s “International Course on Conservation of Japanese Paper”
On August 30, thirteen visitors from ICCROM’s “International Course on Conservation of Japanese Paper” visited the Institute as part of their training session.
They toured the Performing Arts Recording Studio in the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Restoration Studio, the Conservation Laboratory, the Chemistry Laboratory and the Radiography Laboratory in the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques.
The staff members in charge of each section explained the work they do.
The Institute usually hosts international symposia, and this year the Institute will host a symposium on the topic of Reconsidering “Form”: Towards a More Open Discussion. The symposium consisted of 3 sessions: “Forms”as Groups, “Forms”as Individual and That which Supports“Form”. The symposium will include research on form in the various field, such as fine art, archaeology, and architecture. We also target at the form in the traditional performing arts, and classic literature. The symposium seeks to explore new avenues of discussion presented by the methodologies used in those fields. The symposium covers a wide range of topics, so presenters were invited to participate in a seminar as groundwork for a discussion. To start with, Kouji KUWAKINO (Osaka University), who will be making a presentation during the 3rd session, visited the Institute, and a seminar took place starting at 3 PM on August 2nd. Mr. KUWAKINO gave a talk on Early Modern Italian Gardens and Mnemonic Devices. Using the garden at the Villa di Castello, built on the outskirts of Florence in the 16th century, as an example, Mr. KUWAKINO described the deciphering of forms using mnemonic devices, which flourished in Western Europe from the 15th to the 17th century.
The 15th century marked the start of the Age of Exploration and printing technology was invented, leading to a rapid increase in the quantity of information. Mnemonic devices were developed to organize and store that information, and ideas that linked information and certain forms spread. Those ideas are even reflected in buildings and gardens. This stimulating seminar examined part of the context for forms.
Hozan-ji in the City of Ikoma, Nara Prefecture has a number of noh texts written by Zeami, himself in 14th century. Those texts include some musical notes alongside verses. Those notes were examined in detail, providing clues to how Zeami composed the works.
KIMURA Shoji, a craftsman who makes the hat’s framework
Even an experienced sewer can barely sew 2-3 hat per day
From August 21st–22nd, sedge hat-making techniques (nationally designated as an Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2009) passed down in the former town of Fukuoka (now part of the City of Takaoka), Toyama Prefecture were studied.
Sedge hats were originally a folk implement that was ordinarily used as protection from the sun or as rain gear. Today, however, these hats serve as props in folk performing arts or period dramas (especially those about feudal Japan) or as folk decorations. Sedge hats in Ecchu-Fukuoka were known as “Kaga Hats” since the days of Japan’s feudal domains, and these hats enjoyed wide use because of their high quality. Today, Ecchu-Fukuoka accounts for 90% of the output of sedge hats nationwide, making it the premier site of hat-making.
Sedge hat-making is divided into several steps: growing sedge (the raw material for a hat), making the hat’s framework, and sewing the hat (sewing sedge onto the hat’s framework). In the past, men made the hat framework while women sewed the hat as a sideline activity during the off-season. The steps of sedge growing and making the hat framework in particular are seriously suffering from a lack of individuals to carry on the technique. As an example, the number of individuals who cultivate sedge fields completely by hand is decreasing yearly. According to a survey by the Association to Preserve Ecchu-Fukuoka Sedge Hat-making Techniques, the area of sedge growth in the city has shrunk to less than 100 ares (1 hectare). During the heyday of sedge hat-making, there were around 200 craftsmen who made the hat framework, but currently Mr. KIMURA Shoji, a craftsman in his late 80s, is the only craftsman still doing so. The current reality is that not enough people have been trained to carry on the technique, so supply is unable to keep up with existing orders.
In light of these circumstances, the Association to Preserve Ecchu-Fukuoka Sedge Hat-making Techniques and the City of Takaoka’s Fukuoka General Administration Center have led the charge with comprehensive steps to pass on sedge hat-making techniques. A wide range of activities have been used thus far to pass on the culture of sedge hats, including efforts to ascertain the area of cultivated sedge fields, efforts to create records of the cultivation of sedge fields (a manual), discussions with hat makers, sales demonstrations, workshops to teach hat-making, and identification of companies to make needles to sew sedge hats. In August 2012, the Committee to Preserve Sedge Hat-making was established, and in August 2013 the Ecchu-Fukuoka Sedge Growers Association was established. These organizations are transcending boundaries as they liaise with the Regional Development Section and the Economic Development Section, the Fukuoka Educational Administration Center, the Cultural Properties Division, and the Agriculture and Fisheries Section (this section is heavily involved in sedge growing).
Designation of folk techniques as an Important Folk Cultural Property began in 2005, but the preservation and utilization of these techniques has not been fully discussed. Information on the issues involved, steps to take, and the feasibility of those steps was not been adequately shared. The various efforts to preserve sedge hat-making techniques in Ecchu-Fukuoka warrant close attention as a case study involving the preservation and utilization of folk techniques.
A topographical survey underway at the temple site
Combining a contour map and a survey map of architectural remains
The 3rd training course in architectural surveying was conducted over a 2 week-period from July 22 to August 2 at the temple of Ta Nei at Angkor in Cambodia. This training is planning for younger staff members of the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (ASPARA), the National Authority for Preah Vihear (NAPV), and JAPAN-APSARA Safeguarding Angkor (JASA, a team combining the Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor and the ASPARA), which are all responsible for managing ancient monuments in the Kingdom of Cambodia. The participants are specialists in architecture and archaeology, and in this 3rd course nine trainees including 1 new staff participated.
As we finished recording the temple layout within the first and second enclosure walls by the previous courses, the 3rd course began with a traverse survey for making reference points to measure architectural remains and topography within the third enclosure wall. By using these points as reference also for a topographical survey that included the third enclosure wall with the east and west gopuras and the moat outside of the second enclosure wall. The trainees were divided into 2 groups to conduct the survey, and in the end, all of them could create a contour map and a 3D model of the area within the third enclosure wall by using these measuring data. The trainees appeared to be highly motivated to take on challenges: as the trainees who had attended the previous courses had almost mastered basic steps in surveying architectural remains and plotting, they could teach to their fellow trainees even when they encountered something they did not know. In addition, on the final day of the course, all of the trainees gave presentations on the topic of surveying and drawing of architectural remains for the conservation, describing their own part in site work and exchanging opinions on the prospects for the future.
This training course is not simply to provide technical methods in archaeological surveying from Japan to Cambodia. Rather, the course has also steadily encouraged exchanges among Cambodian trainees themselves. We continue the cooperative projects with the hope that younger personnel who will be responsible for the future of sites in Cambodia grow through such efforts.
An explanation at the Library (July 24)
Thirty-one New Staff Members from the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
On July 23–24, thirty-one New Staff Members from the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage visited the Institute as part of their training.
They toured the Library of the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems, the Performing Arts Recording Studio of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Conservation Laboratory of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques.
The staff members in charge of each section explained the work they do.
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
The signing ceremony
The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC) was founded in 1999 in Norwich in the County of Norfolk, UK. A site for research on Japanese art and culture, the Sainsbury Institute has actively developed projects using an international cooperative research network. In addition, the Sainsbury Institute has ties to the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo through donation of part of the collection of YANAGISAWA Takashi , a former expert of the National Research Institute, to the Sainsbury Institute, the National Research Institute, and the Asian Art Museum in Seattle. In February 2010, HIRANO Akira , Librarian of SISJAC’s Lisa Sainsbury Library was invited to attend a seminar held at the National Research Institute. Both institutes have conducted exchanges and both are exploring continuing ties.
A joint project, the Project to Shaping the Fundamentals of Research on Japanese Art, was instituted. On July 24, 2013 (Wed.), KAMEI Nobuo, Director General of the National Research Institute, visited UK to sign a memorandum of agreement with MIZUTORI Mami , Executive Director of the Sainsbury Institute. The Project seeks to create a common basis for Japanese art research in Japan and abroad. The National Research Institute previously unveiled the Art-related Reference Database, which contains information on references in Japanese published in Japan. To complement this database, the Sainsbury Institute will create and unveil a database containing information on references in English published outside of Japan. The memorandum of agreement is valid for 5 years, but both parties are aware of the need to foster medium- to long-term cooperation, given the basic and ongoing nature of the Project.
TANAKA Atsushi and WATADA Minoru of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems accompanied Director General KAMEI of the National Research Institute. The day after the signing, July 25 (Thurs.), TANAKA and WATADA discussed specific directions for the Project with staff of the Sainsbury Institute. This year, the Sainsbury Institute estimated what routine work it can perform and the amount of data that will be assembled. This was done so that the Sainsbury Institute could determine the extent of the information to gather and so that it could begin gathering information and entering data in accordance with the techniques of the National Research Institute. Next year, the Sainsbury Institute will unveil the database and include links to its counterpart in Japan once the Sainsbury Institute has assembled a sufficient amount of information. More effective techniques for cross-searching both databases will then be explored, and plans are to make the databases accessible to the general public.
A survey of Japanese paintings in the collection of the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts of the University of East Anglia was conducted on July 23 (Tues.), the day before the memorandum was signed. Plans are, via the Project, to subsequently cooperate with institutions in UK that are linked to the Sainsbury Institute, such as the Sainsbury Centre, as the need arises.
Drying araso (the bark of hemp stalks)
The Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage gathers information on and studies selected techniques to preserve traditional craft techniques.
Riyo KIKUCHI of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage conducted a survey of techniques to produce araso (the bark of hemp stalks). This technique is selected preservation technique. Kurume Ikat uses araso (to prevent dye from penetrating to fiber).
Araso is currently made in the Yahata Family in the City of Hita, Oita Prefecture. July, this hemp is harvested, steamed, and the stalks are peeled and dried . By change of society, this technique is difficult to inherit technique with one family. In light of these circumstances, members of an important intangible cultural property Kurume Ikat instituted a system last year to help with work. The Cannabis Control Act made obtaining araso more difficult, and the material is not as easy to obtain as it once was. In the future, ways to remedy situations like this need to be considered from various perspectives.
Practice removing oxygen to control pests
Training for Museum and Art Museum Conservators was conducted for 2 weeks starting on July 8th and was attended by 30 curators and administrators from around the country. Training focused on gaining the basic knowledge and learning methodologies needed to conserve materials through lectures and practice. The curriculum consisted of 2 areas: (1) management of materials and conservation conditions grounded in basic natural sciences and (2) causes of the degradation of different types of cultural properties and steps to prevent that degradation.
“Case studies” that involved putting conservation conditions into effect in actual settings took place at the Shinjuku Historical Museum. Participants divided into 8 groups and conducted field studies and assessments of aspects such as temperature and humidity ranges, the effects of outside light, and pest control in galleries and repositories. The following day, they reported their results.
During the training session, a group discussion of the issue of reduced energy use at facilities handling cultural properties took place with the help of the Conservation Division of the Tokyo National Museum.
This session marks the 30th training session since training began in 1984. In total, over 700 individuals have attended the training. Individuals who underwent training early on and who have been at the forefront of materials conservation are beginning to give way to the next generation. As future generations carry on this conservation work, the Institute will determine what form this training should take in the future while remaining cognizant of the role the Institute needs to play in materials conservation.
Extracting core samples from a test specimen made of rammed earth
Interview with craftsmen at Yuta Goempa
Commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan, this project aims to understand and preserve construction techniques used to build traditional buildings in Bhutan in particularly rammed earth houses and temples, and to assess and improve their earthquake-proofing and safety. The project began last year with the Division for Conservation of Heritage Sites, Department of Culture, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, Bhutan, as a counterpart, with whom the Japanese experts have jointly studied and tested on building techniques, structures and materials undertaking in such a way research exchanges and human resource development.
The first field survey this year was conducted from June 21 to July 3 involving 9 experts from Japan. Test specimens of rammed earth for materials strength tests were prepared using traditional construction techniques, as well as construction studies and micro-tremors measurement were conducted at several temples, houses and ruins in the districts of Thimphu, Wangdue Phodrang and Paro. In addition, the experts visited a rammed earth temple damaged by the last earthquake being restored, and sites where rammed earth residences are being constructed. Through interviews with craftsmen, the experts gathered information on the current state of restoration of heritage buildings and construction techniques.
Over the past few years, such traditional buildings have rapidly disappeared from the capital of Thimphu. However, the survey also revealed that some Bhutanese wish to somehow pass on the techniques they have inherited from their forefathers to future generations. We hope to continue providing technical support and conducting personnel exchanges so that Bhutan can properly preserve those techniques, which represent part of the country’s cultural heritage.
Practice with a Japanese calligraphic work during the basic course
Making a folding screen during the advanced course
This workshop is held annually as a part of the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas. This year, it was held at the Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin, with the basic course, “Japanese paper and silk cultural properties,” from July 3rd through the 5th, and with the applied course, “Restoration of Japanese folding screens,” from July 8th through the 12th.
The basic course covered the process from production of a cultural property to its appearance before the public, i.e. its creation, mounting, exhibition, and viewing. Lectures, demonstrations, and training were conducted regarding materials such as paper, pigments, paste, and animal glue, techniques of creating Japanese paintings and calligraphy, aspects of mounting, and handling of cultural properties.
The applied course included a workshop primarily on practice restoring a folding screen using traditional conservation techniques. Attendees actually produced wooden lattice undercores, which are then covered with multiple layers of paper to create a folding screen, and paper hinges that join panels of the folding screen.
This workshop seeks to offer the opportunity to understand Japanese tangible cultural properties such as paintings and calligraphic works to thus broaden understanding of intangible cultural properties as well, such as papermaking and mounting, among as many foreign conservators as possible.
During the lecture
To welcome Dr. Stanley Abe (professor, Duke University, USA), an expert in Chinese art history, as a visiting researcher to the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems, the lecture by Dr. ABE was organized under the title of Imagining Chinese Sculpture from 2:00 to 5:30 PM on June 5 (Wed.) in a basement meeting room at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo.
Dr. ABE’s lecture focused on the fact that the Western concept of “sculpture” did not exist in China until the 19th century. Instead, emphasis was placed on the text that accompanied three-dimensional objects. Tracing the history of this text, Dr. Abe noted that it was valued in different ways and was intended as a gift or treated as an art object. Since the dawn of the modern age, that text gained new value as a work of art when it was collected by Westerners and Japanese who visited China.
After the lecture, a discussion took place with comments by Dr. TANAKA Shuji (associate professor, Graduate School of Education, Faculty of Education and Welfare Science, Oita University) and OKADA Ken (Head of the Institute’s Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques). The discussion revealed that China and Japan attached different value to three-dimensional objects prior to encountering the Western European concept of “sculpture,” and the social status of the individuals who produced those items also differed. In China, the term “sculpture” strongly connotes an object produced after the dawn of the modern age.
The discussion brought up topics such as variations not only in the acceptance of Western culture, but also in the modern shaping of the plastic arts, and the historical and economic contexts that led to those variations. The lecture had 48 attendees and was a success.
YUKI Somei’s manuscript for A Description of Graves of Artists
The Japanese-style painter YUKI Somei (1875–1957) is known as a figure who contributed to a revolution in modern Japanese-style painting. He did this by developing a style based on naturalism in the middle of the Meiji Period and by participating in the forming of Kinreisha (an organization encouraging Japanese-style painters) with painters such as HIRAFUKU Hyakusui and KABURAKI Kiyokata during the Taisho period. Many of YUKI’s written works about art survive today. Some of these works contain empirical information based on documentary research that is valued even today. These works include A Study of the Graves of Tokyo Artists (1931), A Description of the Graves of Tokyo Artists (1936), and A Description of the Graves of Artists (1953). These 3 works compile information on the graves of artists (with a focus on “artists” in the traditional sense), and they are valuable sources that provide clues to the past.
AOKI Shigeru, the head of the Association for the Study of Modern Japanese Art History and a visiting research at the Institute, donated YUKI’s rough draft of his series of descriptions of graves to the Institute. Like the printed edition, the rough draft features the date when different artists died, their age at death, and a biography. However, YUKI continued to revise the draft copy by adding information even after the printed edition came out. The assembled rough draft is more than 10 inches thick. The work conjures up YUKI’s devotion to compiling descriptions of graves. This work can be viewed in the Institute’s Library.
The instant that the decision was made to inscribe Fujisan, sacred place and source ofartistic inspiration (a property nominated by Japan), on the List of World Heritage
The 37th Session of the World Heritage Committee was held from June 16 to 27 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (the closing ceremony on the 27th took place in Siem Reap-Angkor). Prior to the session, personnel at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo analyzed data on the state of conservation of World Heritage properties and data regarding properties nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List. Five representatives from the Institute, including FUTAGAMI Yoko (Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems), attended the session to gather information on World Heritage issues.
This session of the World Heritage Committee decided to inscribe 19 properties on the World Heritage List. During discussion of Mt. Fuji, which Japan nominated for inscription, 19 of the 20 Committee Members (excluding Japan) expressed approval of the site for inscription, but many opposed a recommendation to exclude the Miho-no-Matsubara pine grove because of its distance from the mountain. Committee Members gained a full understanding of the value of Mt. Fuji and the Miho-no-Matsubara site thanks to materials such as letters of nomination and explanations from Japanese representatives, leading to inclusion of the Miho-no-Matsubara site.
In addition, 6 properties in Syria, such as the Site of Palmyra, were inscribed as World Heritage site of Syria properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger. This was a result of the country’s domestic instability, which has hampered efforts to conserve Syrian cultural properties. However, restoring peace is a complicated issue and will take time.
Additionally, the Committee explored reducing the number of properties to discuss and having Committee Members voluntarily withdraw nominations of properties in their own countries during their term of office. However, many Committee Members opposed these proposals, so no decision was reached. The World Heritage Committee does not merely discuss nomination of properties to the World Heritage List as it also plays an important role in dealing with any topic related to the conservation of World Heritage. Representatives from the Institute were involved in varied aspects of the session’s agenda and they gathered, analyzed, and presented relevant information at the session.
The Korea Bamboo Museum in Damyang County
As part of the second Research Exchange between Japan and South Korea in relation to the Safeguarding and Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage that took place last year, Migiwa IMAISHI of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage visited South Korea for a scheduled 2 weeks starting on June 12. In South Korea, the survey examined traditional Korean techniques and their preservation and conservation. The survey focused on techniques of bamboo work in the Damyang region of South Jeolla Province and techniques of sedge (“wangol”) handicrafts on Ganghwa Island, part of the City of Incheon.
Damyang is a major center for production of bamboo products, with almost all of its residents engaged in bamboo work. Five specialties, including the making of chaesang (bamboo boxes or baskets), the making of folding fans, and comb-making, have been designated as intangible cultural properties by the national or municipal government. The survey provided the opportunity to meet possessors (preservers) of cultural properties and ask about traditional techniques, changes in those techniques, and the current state of preservation of those techniques. The survey also helped to ascertain circumstances regarding cultural properties in the form of efforts by Damyang County to turn its “bamboo culture” into a tourist attraction and revitalize the local area (e.g. development of new bamboo products, the County’s own craftsmen support system, and management of bamboo-related facilities). The survey provided a glimpse into how cultural properties have been passed on in the past and how they may be passed on in the future. Preservation of traditional techniques differs in Japan and South Korea. In Japan, traditional techniques are preserved under two different systems: “intangible folk cultural properties” (folk techniques) and “intangible cultural properties” (craft techniques). In contrast, traditional techniques in South Korea are preserved under only one system: “intangible cultural properties” (craft techniques). Thus, techniques that fall under “intangible folk cultural properties,” i.e. techniques that are “indispensable to understanding changes in the Japanese people’s way of life” in Japan, are considered to be “intangible cultural properties” in South Korea, where they are valued as arts, skills, or techniques with “significant historical, artistic, or scholarly value.” These differences in the Japanese and Korean systems must have an impact on the perceptions of preservers of cultural properties and the general public and they might also impact techniques themselves. These varied impacts must be clearly discerned during future research exchanges.
A massive steel structure over 500 m in length that extracted coal via strip mining on one end and then transported the unneeded excavated material to dump it on the other end. (F60 overburden conveyor bridge)
Gas chambers and crematoria blown up by the German Army. Buildings have been preserved as they were when they were blown up. (Auschwitz/Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum)
From May 24 (Fri.) to June 4 (Tues.), the Modern Cultural Properties Section conducted a field survey of 7 world heritage sites and potential world heritage sites associated with modern cultural properties in Germany and Poland. The survey also examined the conservation and restoration of railroad and industrial heritage. In Germany, the survey examined the Berlin Modernism Housing Estates (which have been inscribed as a world heritage site), the Dresden Elbe Valley (which had its status as a world heritage site revoked), Electropolis Berlin (Berlin as a locus for the heavy electrical equipment industry) and mining and the cultural landscape in Freiberg in the Ore Mountains (both Electropolis Berlin and the Ore Mountains are nominated as world heritage sites). In addition, the survey examined a massive F60 overburden conveyor bridge (a machine used to strip-mine coal that is over 500 m long), paddle steamers that travel the Elbe River, and preserved railroads that operate steam locomotives. The sites and machinery have their own unique characteristics, and they have been conserved via ingenious techniques. The Berlin housing estates appear unremarkable, but the survey revealed that residents and managers have united to save these buildings, which are cultural properties. In Poland, the survey examined the historic center of Krakow (“Old Town”) and Auschwitz concentration camp (Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim), both of which are world heritage sites. There was debate over whether to preserve Auschwitz as a museum because of its historical significance, but the site now has numerous visitors. Open to the public, the gas chambers and crematoria that the German Army blew up as they retreated have been preserved as they were. However, the buildings were red brick and mortar, so conservation techniques are an issue. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial (commonly called the “Atomic Bomb Dome”) is in a similar. Sharing information on conservation techniques should prove beneficial.
Conservation efforts underway
Exchange of opinions on conservation policies
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation conducted a workshop on conservation of archaeological metal objects at the History Museum of Armenia from June 11 to 22, 2013. This project was a part of the Networking Core Centers for International Cooperation on Conservation of Cultural Heritage Project commissioned by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan. The project is in its third year, and the workshop is the fourth to be held domestically.
This workshop was an advanced course for conservators of archaeological metal objects, so Armenian experts were chosen from among personnel who had been attending previous workshops. In total, there were 4 attendees from the History Museum of Armenia and other institutions in Armenia. Based on the knowledge and skills they had gained over the past 2 years, Armenian experts participated in conservation work with Japanese experts. After surveys, which included photography and scientific analysis, and planning exhibition/conservation work, experts concluded the conservation work. This work helped to improve the knowledge and skills of Armenian experts.
The next workshop will be on the topic of preventive conservation for exhibition and storing. Plans are to prepare objects for exhibition in the History Museum of Armenia next year.
On May 17 2013, senior researcher HAYAKAWA Noriko of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques and NISHIMOTO Tomoyuki and OKURA Takanori of Hayashibara Co., Ltd. were awarded the 63rd Industrial Technology Award by the Osaka Industrial Research Association for their joint study titled “Adhesives for Restoration of Cultural Properties:Development of Furunori (aged paste)-like Polysaccharides.” The Industrial Technology Award is given by the Osaka Industrial Research Association to recognize the achievements of individuals who have advanced or improved industrial research,inventions (leading to or potentially leading to industrial applications) or technologies currently in use.
An explanation in the Radiography Laboratory（May 21）
Five Visitors from Okazaki Junior High School affiliated to Aichi University of Education:
On May 21, five visitors from Okazaki Junior High School affiliated to Aichi University of Education visited the Institute in order to view work involved in the conservation and restoration of cultural properties.
They toured the Library of the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems, the Performing Arts Studio of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the Conservation Laboratory and the Radiography Laboratory of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques, and the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation.
The staff members in charge of each section explained the work they do.
