Arches: new open source heritage inventory & management system

The GCI and World Monuments Fund have just released Arches version 1.0, a user-friendly, open source information management software system built specifically to help heritage organizations safeguard cultural heritage sites worldwide.

Find out more at archesproject.org



Source: GCI e-Bulletin: December 2013

New acquisitions at ICOMOS Documentation Centre

We wish to present our readers two beautiful books newly acquired by ICOMOS Documentation Centre. Published by Editions Gelbart, "Patrimoine Mondial de l'UNESCO : les sites français" et "Patrimoine Mondial de l'UNESCO : les sites marocains" are two wonderful photographical voyages through UNESCO World Heritage sites.




Patrimoine Mondial de l'UNESCO : les sites français. Pierron, Jacques (text) and Gelbart, Jean-Jacques (Photographs). Toulouse, France, Editions Gelbart, 2009. 323 p.

Leaf through the book online: click here




Patrimoine Mondial de l'UNESCO : les sites marocains. Gelbart, Jean-Jacques (Photographs). Toulouse, France, Editions Gelbart, 2009. 149 p.

Leaf through the book online: click here





Editions Gelbart website: http://gelbart-photographe.fr/index.php

COE Publications on Cultural Heritage

ICOMOS Documentation Centre recently acquired the following titles published by the Council of Europe and wishes to present them to the readers.

Guidance on inventory and documentation of the cultural heritage (2009)
Improved heritage management and the inclusion of heritage in planning and sustainable development processes necessitate inventory and documentation. More than mere scientific tools recommended in international agreements, inventory and documentation play a strategic role. The complexity of the heritage items that now have to be inventoried and their interaction with our everyday living environment require the clear definition and harmonisation of practices at the European level.
Through its work in the 1960s, the Council of Europe helped to lay the methodological bases for inventorying architectural, archaeological and movable heritage. The efforts to systematise the process came in answer to the broadening meaning of heritage, and today new considerations lead us to address such notions as heritage groups.
The guidelines proposed in this book reflect the work done so far and provide a basis for future research. It is part of a series produced under the Technical Co-operation and Assistance Programme to present the experience derived from the projects implemented by the Council of Europe. - Purchase

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Funding the architectural heritage: A guide to policies and examples (2009)
What systems can be used for the mobilisation of financial resources for the conservation, restoration, rehabilitation and integrated management of the architectural heritage through area-based regeneration initiatives? This guide aims to provide authoritative information on different funding mechanisms, financial resources and management systems utilised in Europe and in North America as a means to assist the development of good and efficient practice.
Consideration is given to examples relating to three principal forms of financial measures: subsidies (grant aid), loans and tax incentives, as well as specific measures to promote sponsorship through donations by individuals and corporate organisations. Other revenue-raising methods are investigated, including easement donations and endowment funds, lotteries, concession agreements, monument annuities, the transfer of development rights and enabling development, and through the support of international organisations such as the World Monument Fund, the World Bank, the Council of Europe Development Bank and the European Union. Further consideration is given to the role of non-profit and other organisations operating for the benefit of the architectural heritage such as revolving fund organisations, charitable trusts, heritage foundations and limited liability companies. Purchase

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European heritage - Sustainable development strategies in South-East Europe (2008)
The Institutional Capacity Building Plan is the first of three components in the Regional Programme for Cultural and Natural Heritage in South East Europe that was launched in 2003. As part of this plan, a "translational theme-based debate" was held, the structure of which was based on an assessment of requests from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Kosovo.
The results of this debate have been published across three volumes in the European Heritage series. This third volume examines how the enhancement of cultural and natural heritage can contribute to the implementation of sustainable development projects. The participants' reports and presentations on European best practices should inspire institutions to define rules and guidelines for structuring their national heritage policies so that they can also contribute to regional and local development strategies. - Purchase

Workshop on inventories/Atelier sur les inventaires: proceedings

Strengthening institutional and legal frameworks: workshop on inventories (10-12 December 2008, Paris)
First legal workshop on cultural heritage inventories in Mediterranean Partner countries organised by the RMSU in collaboration with the France-UNESCO Cooperation Agreement

These Proceedings present the documents related to the workshop on INVENTORIES that took place in Paris, at UNESCO Headquarters. It is the result of a fruitful co-operation between the Euromed Heritage programme of the European Union and the Agreement France-UNESCO.

Download the proceedings and the recommendations