Open sessions

If you are thinking of submitting a session for the upcoming ICOHTEC-SHOT joint meeting in Vina del Mar, this section is intended to help you find additional panelists. Simply write to me at s.lotysz@gmail.com, attach a session abstract and contact information, and I will post it as soon as possible. If you are considering joining a session listed on this page, please contact the session organizer directly. Once the session is assembled, it is the organizer’s responsibility to submit it through the submission page.

Sławomir Łotysz


The history of conservation technologies in the context of institutionalized Heritage Protection

 Organizer: PD Dr. Roman Hillmann, German Mining-Museum Bochum

Email: roman.hillmann@bergbaumuseum.de 

One of the earliest modern-time systems of state monumental preservation regulations, assigned to the building authorities’ offices and based on monumental preservation laws, was introduced by Karl Friedrich Schinkel after 1815 – beginning of modern Monumental Preservation in Europe. What is less recognized is: When it came to preserve old buildings, technologies to deal with the old had to be found. For example, the Marienburg (a gothic Castle near Gdańsk dating back to the 13th century) had brought David and Friedrich Gilly and later their friend Schinkel to start thinking differently: They changed the idea from the assignment why they had traveled to Marienburg in 1794 – to find technologies to demolish the huge structure – to learn how to keep, repair and re-use such a building in bad repair.

The technologies that where invented the following years where important, because they are also applicable for any kind of architectural repair:

  • conservation
  • restoration
  • building documentation / building archeology
  • structural preservation
  • control of bio-hazards
  • corrosion mitigation

The session will start with a talk from Dr. Alexandra Skedzuhn-Safir and Dr. Peter I. Schneider (University Cottbus). They will look into processes of scientification, normalization and standardization of practices in Europe after 1815.

The session will have as one of the late talks a general overview of the technologies in Industrial Heritage Conservation by the session organizer.

For the time span between 1800 and today, the session is open to suitable proposals: aspects of repair and conservation technologies in the context of heritage conservation.

Interested parties in this session are asked to send a one-page abstract (300 words maximum) and a short CV (150 words maximum) with a contact E-Mail address and affiliation address to the session organizer roman.hillmann@bergbaumuseum.de . Please send these materials no later than 18 December 2023.

CVs:

Session Organizer Roman Hillmann, Dr. phil, is Project coordinator of Heritage Conservation Center Ruhr (hcc.ruhr) at German Mining Museum, Bochum. Part of the Material Science Department, he brings together engineers and historians to foster the technological research in and the preservation of huge plants and machines that are industrial heritage. He also holds a Private Lectureship at the Institute for Architectural History at University of Stuttgart with a venia legendi for Architectural History and Construction History. His interest and research into the design and building technology of postwar architectures brought him into this kind of research and position.  He designed the Master Program Material Engineering and Industrial Heritage Conservation (MEIHC) at Technical University of Applied Sciences Georg Agricola, Bochum, where he was Professor of “Industrial Heritage Conservation” 2021-2023.

CV of the two already chosen speakers: 

Alexandra Skedzuhn-Safir, Dr. phil. studied the restoration of stone and ceramics at the Instituto per ll’Arte e il Restauro in Florence, where she worked on restoration projects for several years. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in the conservation of architectural surfaces at the HAWK in Hildesheim and her MA in World Heritage Studies at the BTU, Cottbus. Her doctoral thesis in heritage conservation focussed on the topography of prostitution in 19th century Florence and the cultural significance of historic brothels. Her research and teaching interests include marginalization in the heritage discourse, the inherent conflict between the restoration of historical substance and the preservation of value, and the interpretation of cultural heritage. In her habilitation project, she is focusing on olfactory perception and emotions in the heritage discourse.

Peter I. Schneider, Dr. -Ing., permanent academic staff member at the building history department of BTU Cottbus. Heads together with Dr. phil. Constanze Röhl, the DFG project ‘The architectural history of the F1 in Peenemünde as a contribution to the archaeological exploration of material archaeological exploration of material remains at contaminated cultural heritage sites’.