Rapid help for endangered cultural assets

In 2022, nine articulated lorries carrying 290 pallets rolled into Ukraine to protect cultural assets there. Bubble wrap, archiving boxes, sandbags and fire extinguishers were transported from Germany to museums, archives, libraries and other cultural institutions in the war-ravaged country in order to protect monuments and artworks. The aid could be supplied thanks to a logistical network in which the KulturGutRetter project played a central part.  

Around the world, wars, earthquakes, flooding and fires endanger the cultural heritage of regions and countries. Swift help is needed in such crisis situations, which is where the KulturGutRetter project, which was set up in 2019, comes in. Its partners are the German Archaeological Institute, the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief and the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie. Germany’s Federal Foreign Office supports the project.  

In the event of a crisis, experts from Germany, as part of international disaster relief operations, are sent in to document and assess the damage in the country. It is also a question of rapidly protecting buildings, or indeed valuable collections and archives, in an emergency.  

To this end, experts at the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie have developed multifunctional and easily transportable rescue modules that can help with documentation and initial protection. An illuminated photo table for instance can be used to document the condition of the cultural asset in question. Other modules are intended for cleaning or transport.  

The experts also offer digital help, for example with backing up research data. In Ukraine, this allowed a total of seven terabytes (TB) of research data relating to the country’s cultural heritage to be secured in 2022. 

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