Records for Cultural Properties (Fine Arts and Crafts): The 1st Seminar in 2025 Fiscal Year Held by the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems
Since the 2022 fiscal year, Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) has been involved in “The Investigation of Tools and Materials Used for the Preservation and Restoration of Fine Arts and Crafts” as part of the Agency for Cultural Affairs’ “TAKUMI Project,” and the Department of Art Research, Archives and Information Systems is in charge of the “Archiving of Cultural Property Restoration Records” initiative. As reported, on March 31, 2025, a prototype of the “Database of Restoration Records for Cultural Properties (Fine Arts and Crafts)” was made publicly available online. A study meeting on this database and Restoration Records for Cultural Properties was held on April 17, 2025.
The structure and operation of this database, its status as official documentation of the restoration records regarding nationally designated cultural properties, the current situation of the source materials, and future developments were reported by Mr. OYAMADA Tomohiro, Ms. YAMANAGA Naomi, and Mr. TARASHIMA Satoshi. In a discussion that took place after the meeting, in addition to questions about the presentation, various issues were raised, such as the relationship between databases of collections at museums and art galleries and repair records, and the scope of information to be collected.
It is true that there is an impression that restorations of cultural properties are unavoidable actions taken in response to deterioration due to aging or damage by other causes. For this reason, restoration records that convey the state of the property before repair have not attracted much public attention. However, in recent years, there has been a growing awareness that cultural properties cannot be preserved unless they are repaired at appropriate intervals, and that past repair records are a great help for their future repairs and preservation. We hope that the publication of this database will encourage further discussion and organization of cultural property repair records.
