Plan for safeguarding cultural property

  • Safety, security

The protection of cultural heritage is an objective recalled in the Orsec plan of the code of internal security. The cultural property protection plan is a priority for the Ministry of Culture.

By note of 10 June 2016 from the Director-General of Heritage, an outline of the cultural property protection plan, operational document in emergency situation has been distributed, on the one hand, to public establishments and services with national competence under the Ministry of Culture and on the other hand to the regional directorates of cultural affairs invited to promote its application in historical monuments, museums and archives in their territories.

This document, prepared in 2015-2016 by the mission security-safety-accessibility of the inspection of heritage in connection with the services of the Directorate-General of Heritage (interdepartmental service of the Archives of France, service of museums of France, service of heritage), is intended to respect the particular characteristics of the goods and premises concerned by the various services.

The protection of cultural heritage includes three types of measures, which complement each other:

  • preventive measures that are sustainable, regardless of a disaster;
  • operational forecasting measures: this is the purpose of the cultural property protection plan, a genuine emergency and crisis management plan;
  • measures to return to normal.

The plan for safeguarding cultural property must be carried out in close cooperation with the emergency services and made available to them in the event of intervention. It is to be distinguished from "STAGE" Plan (Registered Institution), possibly carried out on a case-by-case basis by fire-fighters and intended to facilitate their intervention, but it complements it logically.

There is no “standard” model for this document, as the reflection, formatting and implementation of a safeguard plan are specific to each institution and must be adapted to its specificities (presence or absence of permanent staff, etc.)its particular characteristics (archival or library collections, museum collections, archaeological remains, movable objects and buildings by destination, building decorations, etc.), as well as the constraints of the places.

This backup plan is the operational tool that will guide and facilitate decisions made by the Rescue Commander and the Superintendent (or designate) based on their analysis of the current situation.

INFORMATION RESOURCES:

Ministry of Culture portal:

Portal of the Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France:

National Portal of Archives - FranceArchives :

Portal of the National Library of France:

  • BNF Contingency Plan, a set of information for setting up and running a contingency plan for safeguarding collections in the event of a disaster.

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Book and Reading proposes a set of emergency plan resources:

Documentary Heritage Disaster Recovery Consortium (CosaDoca), Switzerland, canton of Vaud: Emergency Plan Resources, 2019

Blue Shield : The emergency plan

ICCROM - UNESCO : Free publication on emergency collection evacuation, 2016-12-15. Its purpose: to help save heritage collections in emergency situations.

ICOM - International Council of Museums:

ICORP ICOMOS : International Scientific Committee on Risk Preparedness

Getty conservation institute : Establish a contingency plan, guide to museums and other cultural institutions, 1999

Network WITH, Alliances of Euro-Mediterranean Cities of Culture: A Guide to the Development, Updating and Implementation of Cultural Property Protection Plans - Flood Risk - June 2018

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