Fraunhofer Center for International Management and Knowledge Economy IMW
Cultural Heritage Protection in Times of Climate Change
Duration: 11/2009 - 10/2014
In cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institutes for Building Physics IBP and Silicate Research ISC, the Fraunhofer Center in Leipzig has initiated a 5 million euro EU-financed project concerning the protection of world cultural heritage. CLIMATE FOR CULTURE is a project within the European Union’s 7th framework program. The aim of the 27 project partners' from 14 countries in Europe and North Africa is to meet the challenges of climate change and the responsibility for cultural heritage. The coordinator of the project is the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
The effects of climate change on selected cultural heritage sites all over Europe and North Africa will be examined over a time period of five years. The changed climatic conditions can cause not only damage but also destruction to the basic structure of these sites. CLIMATE FOR CULTURE thus aims to facilitate a precise and integrated evaluation of the actual damage to cultural artifacts through climate change as well as to develop and implement sustainable and preventive strategies. The question “How great are the (financial) advantages of proactive intervention versus reactive measures?” plays a decisive role. A building simulation software program, which works based on the results of extensive data collections, is to aid the development of indicators and suggestions for an individualized climate strategy for each cultural heritage site.
