National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage Establishes Foundation for Training Conservation Experts

Business Agreement with the International Cultural Heritage Conservation and Restoration Research Center

The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage signed a memorandum of understanding for cultural heritage preservation management on the 15th at the headquarters of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Rome, Italy. ICCROM, an advisory body to the World Heritage Centre, is a permanent research institution operating various cultural heritage preservation programs. It has 137 member countries.

The Cultural Heritage Administration signed a trust fund agreement in May 2012. Since the following year, it has been supporting 240 million KRW annually for education, training, and research on Asia-Pacific cultural heritage preservation. ICCROM operates programs such as 'CollAsia,' a program to strengthen the training of preservation experts, using this fund.

The recent agreement added four major provisions: ▲ Joint academic research and international academic conference hosting on cultural and natural heritage ▲ Joint planning and implementation of 'CollAsia' ▲ Publication of Korean translations of ICCROM materials ▲ Exchange of publications and reports. The agreement is valid until 2027.

An official from the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage stated, "We will actively utilize the accumulated research capabilities and human resources to strengthen ICCROM’s capacity-building programs." They added, "It will provide an opportunity to share various research and interpretive materials presented by international organizations with domestic researchers and others."