The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has said that preserving cultural heritage makes communities more resilient
ON JANUARY 5TH, as bushfires continued to burn in Australia, the National Gallery in Canberra announced that it would shut due to “heavy smoke”. “Closing our doors allows us to mitigate any risk to the public, staff, and works of art on display,” the institution said on Twitter. The museum reopened days later, but this was the first time that it had been forced to close due to smoke and the first time since it opened in 1967 that it had remained shut for two consecutive days.
Institutions are not left to fend for themselves. The Blue Shield, an international organisation described as “the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross”, was established in 1996 to protect heritage sites during conflict; its mandate has since expanded to include natural and man-made disasters. Sue Hutley, who chairs Blue Shield’s Australian chapter, encourages the country’s museums to work together, sharing resources and knowledge, to make sure they have adequate preparations in place.
The risks to collections are not limited to flames or flood waters. One of the reasons the NGA closed was that no one fully understands how airborne particles in smoke might damage artefacts. “Anything in the air that is a foreign body has the potential to deteriorate artworks over time,” said Nick Mitzevich, the gallery’s director. “Something that might be damaged today might not show those signs of damage for 50 years. We have to be very careful.
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