Heritage Surgeries

Preparation and Provision of Heritage Surgeries

The Heritage Surgeries will form information and assistance offices to be provided in Romania, Serbia(Kosovo), Croatia and Albania. They will raise awareness on the importance of cultural heritage in each of the countries and will provide a free advice service in helping to identify problems and offer solutions on the restoration of buildings of cultural heritage importance. They will undertake a pro-active role in helping to persuade building owners identified on the Heritage at Risk Register to recognise the value of their heritage assets (personal value, local context value, business/economic value, tourism value), and will provide advice on potential funding sources and practical restoration issues. They will also pro-actively contact other owners of historic buildings to promote the services to involve a maximum audience in each country. (The number of historic buildings in each country varies but typically represents several thousand per country. The potential for opening further surgeries at a later stage is enormous). The surgeries will be staffed on a part-time basis, initially two days per month on selected dates. The Heritage Surgeries will be organised through the regional NGO’s and/or main Cultural Heritage bodies under the guidance of the main Co-organiser. They will embrace an input from Conservationists, Architects, Structural Engineers and Universities. The role of these specialists would be to offer advice to owners on good practice, design and maintenance, availability of craftsmen (it would also involve setting up a local database of craftsmen and availability of traditional materials), and funding sources for restoration.

The Heritage Surgeries will be provided in two stages:
1. Through the celebration of Heritage Festivals which will bring together craftsmen from across the region to celebrate their skills and transfer their knowledge and expertise to improve the understanding and practice of the diversity of the built heritage skills of the region, Three specific festivals on “Decoration and Finishing”, “Carpentry”, and “Stone masonry” will be held using the facilities of Banffy Castle, Bontida, Romania. The festivals will involve craftsmen and universities from across the region learning from each other and from other specialists in the field, and also will involve extensive public participation. In order to develop a meaningful exchange which will enable the transfer of knowledge and skills across borders and will prepare the participants in a leadership role for further transfer within their own countries, the festivals will have a two week duration.

2. Successful participants in Stage 1 will become the leaders/teachers responsible for the transfer of heritage skills within their own countries within the Heritage Surgeries. This will develop a second level of training, dissemination; transfer of know-how in each participant country and in doing so will extend the “audience” base of the project.

A Heritage Surgery will be opened in each country on 1st October 2009. This will provide an opportunity for major media coverage of the project. It is essential that the Surgeries are opened at this period to allow plenty of time for them to operate within the project so that their value can be fully assessed and so that arrangements can be made to sustain them beyond the project period.  The co-organising NGO’s will be responsible for ensuring the availability of experts/advisors within the Surgeries. The cross- border network of NGO’s and experts which will be created through this mechanism will significantly support individual NGO’s and improve their ability to extend this theme beyond the project period.

Each Surgery will hold a Public Heritage Day to publicise the work of the Surgeries and raise the profile of the cultural built heritage in the respective countries approach will also help educate the NGO's in practical conservation delivery in order to ensure sustainability after the project period has ended. It will also facilitate extensive cross-border mobility of specialists and encourage international dialogue at a high professional level.

Overall Report

 
Heritage Surgeries are now operating in Albania, Croatia, Kosovo, and Romania. Further Surgeries will be developed in Hungary and Serbia.
 
The purpose of the Heritage Surgeries is to provide:

1. Free advice on Repair and Maintenance of Historic assets
2. Guidance on Funding possibilities for historic assets
3. Local crafts Workshops on practical restoration issues,  presented by the skilled personnel trained within the project
4. Heritage Festival Days to involve the general population in enjoying and understanding the importance of cultural heritage. 

Establishing Heritage Surgeries in four participant countries represents a key element of the Project, and a basic model for extending the principle of Surgeries to the remaining two countries of the project and to neighbouring countries.
 
Structure

In three cases the Heritage Surgeries have been developed in partnership with external organisations which are also active in ensuring the management and maintenance of heritage assets: in Albania with the Conservation and Development Organisation of Gjirokastra (GCDO), in Croatia with the Dubrovnik Conservation Department, in Romania with local municipalities and architectural/structural engineering companies. This is a strategy which is likely to ensure the continuation of this work beyond the plan period. In Kosovo the delivery of the Heritage Surgeries has been through CHwB and has embodied their own maintenance and restoration programme so that as further sites are restored beyond the project period, additional Surgeries can be accommodated associated with those sites.
 
How do the Surgeries Operate?

The delivery of the Surgeries varies. In Albania there is a specific Office where people now know they can get advice on a particular day each week. In Croatia specific telephone numbers have been publicised directing enquiries to specialist experts. In Kosovo, three permanent offices have been established in key cities and additional Surgeries are offered at Restoration sites. In Romania a dedicated SOS number has been publicised and an office opened where advice is available on a regular basis.
 
A variety of programmes

The programmes associated with each Heritage Surgery have been greatly influenced by the needs identified  within the local area by each of the Co-organisers. The Surgeries therefore provide a range of services designed to best accommodate those needs. In Albania there has been an emphasis on Awareness Raising ( Public and through Schools Programmes), and Skills training. In Kosovo there has been a strong emphasis on Skills training and on specific maintenance issues. In Romania the recognition of the role of local decision makers (Mayors) has been targeted, together with Awareness Raising and Skills training. In all cases owners and managers of heritage assets have been contacted and the requirements of different owners/managers recognised. (In Kosovo there has been a much more positive reaction from rural owners, will in Romania the role of the clergy as managers of major heritage assets has led to specific surgeries to address that issue).
 
A Pro-Active Approach

As the work of the Surgeries has been monitored by each of the operators  it has become increasingly clear that a pro-active approach is required by each of the Co-organisers. This is consistent with the design of the project which encouraged such an approach as a follow up to the research undertaken through the heritage at Risk Survey. The pro-active role now pursued is improving the profile of the NGO’s involved  and helping to highlight the problems of maintenance and management which need to be addressed in the region.
 
Publicity

The public launch of each of the Heritage Surgeries was favourably received by the media.  Press, Radio and TV coverage helped to raise the profile of the Surgeries and has attracted similar coverage as specific events have been developed within the surgery programmes.