On Monday 3rd August an international Blue Shield team will go to Cologne to
support the rescue work on the valuable collection of the collapsed City
Archive of Cologne. Throughout week about 60 heritage professionals from
France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Great-Britain and Sweden will try to save
as much of the collection as possible. [This includes one respondent to my
earlier posting to this list]
The Blue Shield is the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross or Doctors without
Borders, with a network of experts working for the protection of the world's
cultural heritage (museums, monuments and sites, libraries and archives). This
body of expertise wants to make its knowledge available to advise and assist
in responding to damage to cultural heritage caused by armed conflict or
natural disasters.
On Wednesday 5th August, the volunteers will meet archivists and curators
from the city of Köln and have some fruitful exchanges about their
organization and their capacity to manage such a disaster.
Read the full press release here: http://tinyurl.com/bsEngCologne
Also available in German, Dutch or French: http://tinyurl.com/bspressAug09
Richard LEONARD
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