The impact of climate change on the world’s cultural heritage
Portuguese researchers warn that we might lose artifacts and historical sites as extreme weather worsens.
“Cultural heritage can be destroyed. It can decay. Once it is gone, it is gone forever, sadly.”
This is the conclusion of a group of Portuguese researchers after studying the potential impact of climate change on cultural heritage and how we might lose artifacts and historical sites as extreme weather has a worsening impact on our world.
In particular, the researchers — Guilherme Coelho, Hugo Entradas Silva, and Fernando Henriques of the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa — explain in the latest edition of the International Journal of Global Warming that museum pieces are subject to deterioration depending on the conditions in which they are stored, whether or not they are being exhibited or archived. The indoor climate is obviously more controllable than the outdoor, but nevertheless the increasing cost of air-conditioning, (de)humidification, and temperature control, are all likely to affect in a detrimental way how conservators look after their charges.
In addition, sometimes the building themselves are the cultural heritage.
Our job at Adventures in Preservation is to advocate for the preservation of historical sites as they play an important role in the communities where they are located. Since 2001, and with the help of many of volunteers we have worked in more than 10 countries around the world.
The team of Portuguese researchers has now modeled various climate change scenarios to see how weather conditions might affect a building such as Lisbon’s historic church of Saint Christopher (photos below via the World Monuments Fund).
The researchers modeled conditions in Lisbon, but also applied likely conditions associated with Seville (Mediterranean climate), Prague and Oslo (Continental climate), as well as London (Oceanic climate). They not only consider the integrity of artifacts and buildings within but also visitor comfort. After all — they say — what is the purpose of conserving cultural heritage without allowing people to appreciate it?
“Ultimately, climate change is unlikely to be of benefit to house artifacts in buildings that are themselves cultural artifacts,” they concluded.
** About Adventures in Preservation (AiP)
Adventures in Preservation (AiP) is a non-profit connecting people and preservation through enriching cultural heritage travel and hands-on education. AiP was founded in 2001 by two women with a great love of historic buildings and a strong desire to travel and understand the world. While perusing the travel section of the Boulder Bookstore, the Volunteer Vacation section suddenly brought everything into focus. Judith Broeker and Jamie Donahoe combined their goal of saving historic buildings with the concept of experiential travel, and created AiP’s hands-on preservation vacations.
Work started on several sites in the U.S., and as word spread, requests for help began to pour in from around the world, underscoring the great potential of using volunteers to restore historic buildings. In supporting community-based preservation initiatives, we discovered that our love of old buildings could translate into environmental and economic sustainability for communities.
AiP is picking up the pace! As our hands-on experiential travel becomes more popular, we have new projects, new partners and initiatives to keep you excited and involved.
