| ■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 |
|
Training for conserving and restoring dyed textiles (Joshibi University of Art and Design)
The project of fostering experts in conservation laboratories of Iraq National Museum has been conducted since 2004 with funding from grants from the Institute and UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust. Through this project, the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation has invited total 18 conservation experts as trainees, and trainees who have returned to their home countries are making use of the techniques they learned in restoring various cultural properties.
In pevious training sessions, the trainees have practiced using the equipment offered to the museum, centering on metalware, with the cooperation of various organizations in Japan. This year, we conducted training on the conservation and restoration of dyed textiles, and using the instruments necessary to conserve and restore cultural heritage and analyze materials (training on equipment use), in line with the wishes of UNESCO and the Iraq National Museum. Although it was a relatively short period of three months from June 18 to September 19, we not only conducted training on conservation and restoration techniques, but introduced lectures on the concept of conservation that informs the techniques and on diverse scientific knowledge, as well as practical training aimed at fostering human resources who can train specialists at each museum rather than just simple restoration experts. The training was carried out with the cooperation of university researchers, who took the lead of conservation and analysis of dyed textiles, as well as conservation/restoration experts. At the Shizuoka Research Institute for Buried Cultural Heritage, the trainees learned how to conserve archeological relics, treat unearthed objects at an excavation site, and handle items buried at actual sites. In terms of practical training on the conservation and restoration of dyed textiles, we asked professors specialized in the basics of conservation and the history of dyed textiles to give basic lectures on their specialties, and the trainees had practical training on conservation/restoration and storage management of the short-sleeved kimono of the Edo Period and the Coptic textiles owned by Joshibi University of Art and Design with the cooperation of the university. The trainees also attended lectures on the usage of various instruments and analytical techniques as well as practical training with the cooperation of the Center for Conservation Science and Restoration Techniques of the Institute and the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. In January 2009, some exhibitions restarted in the Iraq National Museum. So far, one-third of the cultural properties which were lost during the chaos in Iraq have been returned to the Museum, and they are now gradually but securely advancing toward restoration. We are looking forward to seeing the conservation specialists who participated in this training bear the future of the Museum and contribute to Iraq’s recovery.
Japanese language training
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation used the government subsidized budget for the Cooperative Project for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage in West Asia and UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in Trust for the Reconstruction of the Conservation and Restoration Department of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad in order to invite Iraqi conservation specialists to Japan for training to transfer techniques for conservation and of cultural heritage. This year four specialists in conservation – Ms. Senaa C. A. Al-Timini, Mr. Fadhil A. Allaw, Mr. Mohammad K. M. J. Al-Mimar and Ms.Baan A. M. A. Al-Jameel – have been invited from the Iraq National Museum. They will spend 3 months, from June 19 to September 18, receiving practical training on the conservation of textiles and training on equipment for conservation of cultural properties and material analysis. The program will be conducted with the cooperation of domestic institutes for conservation and restoration, including Joshibi University of Art and Design, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and the Shizuoka Research Institute for Buried Cultural Properties.
Iraqi conservators learning about the conservation and restoration of wooden artefacts (wooden cabinet, Verkehr Museum collection)
The Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation implements training programs for Iraqi and Afghan specialists who are engaged in the conservation of cultural properties as well as archaeological studies in order to train specialists and transfer technology. These programs are funded by grants from the Institute and the UNESCO/Japanese Funds－in－Trust. This year, a six－month training is conducted from July 1 to December 10 and two conservators from the Iraq National Museum (Mr. Buthainah M. Abdulhussein and Mr. Thmar R. Abduallah) have been invited. The training program is designed to help these specialists acquire techniques for the conservation and restoration of wooden artifacts and obtain various conservation and restoration techniques. The program enjoys the cooperation of the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Shizuoka Prefectural Institute for Buried Cultural Properties, Kyushu National Museum and other institutions in Japan. Two Afghan archaeologists (Mr. Ketab Khan Faizi and Mr. Rohullah Ahmadzai) have also been invited to a training program at our Institute and the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties from July 18 to December 22 in order to acquire basic archaeological knowledge and latest techniques. In October, two conservators from the Kabul National Museum will join the training course for the conservation of Buddhist manuscripts found from the Bamian caves; they will work with Japanese conservators.
The training of x-ray radiography for archaeological artifacts (at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties)
The conservation training program, “Restoration of the Laboratories of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad,” a UNESCO Japanese Funds-in-Trust project for Iraqi conservators from the Iraq National Museum, Baghdad, which was held for 3 months, was completed on December 12. The trainees visited Saitama Cultural Deposits Research Corporation on November 13 and 14 to see its conservation laboratory of archaeological artifacts, exhibition and storage rooms and to participate in the conservation work of pottery. From November 19 to December 3, they participated in a training program on the use of various apparatuses used in conservation, such as x-ray radiography, at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. On December 10, they delivered a presentation on the current conditions of the Iraq National Museum, Baghdad, and local museums in Iraq, and their activities in the conservation laboratories as well as on the trainings in Japan. It is hoped that the 4 trainees will employ what they have acquired in the training to contribute to the conservation of cultural heritages
Cleaning an object after vacuum freeze drying method
The four Iraq experts who arrived on 19 September, 2007 received several basic lectures on conservation science and practical training on conservation of wooden objects at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. They stayed in Tokyo from the end of September to the end of October and joined the practical training of conservation for waterlogged wooden objects from 29 October to 9 November at Shizuoka Research Institute for Buried Cultural Heritage.
At Shizuoka, the Iraqi experts experienced lifting fragile wooden objects during archaeological excavations at Sumpu site. They also studied conservation methods such as stabilization using PEG and vacuum freeze-dry method, cleaning, adhesion, and filling at the Shimizu Office of the Shizuoka Research Institute for Buried Cultural Heritage.
They will receive practical training on using various conservation equipments at the Institute in Nara. At the end of this training program, they will conduct a presentation of their works on 10 December, 2007 in Tokyo.
Invited Iraqi experts
Since 2004, the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation has been conducting a training program for Iraqi experts to rehabilitate the conservation laboratories of the Iraq National Museum (INM). This program is a part of the Cooperation Project for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage in West Asia and the UNESCO/Japanese Funds-in-Trust project, Restoration of the Laboratories of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad.
In 2007, the Japan Center for International Cooperation in Conservation has invited four experts between 19 September and 12 December 2007: Ms Faeza M. Jumaah (INM), Ms Taghreed H. Khudhair (INM), Mr Sinan A. Yunis (Nineveh Museum), and Mr Jamal A. A. Ismael (Nasiriyah Museum). The program focuses on the conservation of wooden objects and is conducted at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, the Institute in Nara and Shizuoka Research Institute for Buried Cultural Heritage.
