Activities >> National Seminars


Preventive Conservation of Historic Buildings and their Collections
Kenya 2003

Place: Mombasa, Kenya
Dates: 17– 28 November
Partner: Programme For Museums Development in Africa (PMDA), National Museums Of Kenya (NMK), Generation 2 (ICCROM)

Objectives: The main objectives of the workshop were to:

• impart knowledge and skills in the field of preventive conservation of buildings and their collections in order to enhance the capacity of African heritage institutions to manage and conserve movable and immovable heritage;
• review and improve communications and teamwork processes between heritage professionals for the movable and immovable heritage fields;
• test the quality and usability of preventive conservation educational and support materials developed in the framework of the Generation 2 project.
  

Structure: More and more historic buildings are being used to host museum and collections, thus the need to ensure that both the building and the collections are protected and preserved for posterity. Guided by the Generation 2 learning materials; exercises, group discussions, site assessments, group presentations and individual presentations, the two weeks seminar considered the various steps necessary for the development and implementation of a preventive conservation strategy for historic buildings and their collections, in particular:

• the formulation of a global purpose and mission for a historic building and its collections;
• the assessment and documentation of the current situation of the building and its collections as well as its staff procedures and visitor needs;
• the application of principles of analysis of such collected data in order to make it valuable for decision making;
• the methods for arriving at priorities for action;
• the formulation a plan of action to address assessed priorities, making best use of the existing resources.

Results:

• 14 staff from heritage institutions in Kenya and one from Tanzania acquired knowledge and skills in the field of preventive conservation of buildings and their collections.
• Two participants from previous Africa 2009 activities participated as resource persons.
• The seminar highlighted areas of the Generation 2 learning materials requiring revision and improvement. (The materials have since been revised and improved).