Currently, more than twenty conservators are appointed to work on conservation of the selected artifacts for the GEM. In cooperation with the National Research Institute for Cultural Prosperities, Tokyo, we have been organizing training workshops on conservation by material such as paper and textile.
Training Courses in Egypt
We organized five day workshops consisting of both lectures and practical training. Top conservators in each field were invited as the lecturers.
Workshops on Conservation in FY 2008 & FY 2009
Period |
Subject |
Lecturer |
Number of Participant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-28/03/2008 | Paper | Dr. Masami Sakamoto, Expert in paper conservation |
20 |
| 27-31/07/2008 | Textile | Dr. Mie Ishii & Dr. Yuko Fukatsu, Experts in textile conservation |
22 |
| 1-5/03/2009 | Metals | Dr. Stavroula Golfomitsou, Expert in metal conservation |
25 |
Workshop on Textile Conservation
In the workshop, both theoretical and practical training were provided to twenty-two participants. In practical training the participants tried textile dyeing to deepen understanding of the nature of textile, which is important for textile conservation. They were also trained to write condition reports using real artifacts. The workshop included state-of-art training components and it was highly appreciated by the participants.
On the other hand, there were limitations as well. We could not provide hands-on conservation training using real artifacts mainly because the Conservation Center was not open at that time and we had to use an ordinary meeting room as the venue. Some participants requested more practical training in their course evaluation sheets. We also could not meet all the needs of more than twenty-two conservators, whose skills and fields of specialty vary.
Workshop on Metal Conservation
Considering the challenges we faced in the textile workshop, we decided to organize a metal conservation workshop in the Egyptian Museum, where we were allowed to use for the training several real artifacts, which are usually difficult to be taken out from the museum. The participants learned how to document corrosion of the artifacts by observing the real objects displayed in exhibition hall of the museum. They also learn how to report on the current conditions of the artifacts, the damages received in the past, and the marks of previous conservation work with the real objects in their hands. The project is supposed to be implemented by capable experts not only from Japan but also from abroad. As the first attempt, we invited a lecturer from Greece this time. The training courses on stone conservation and packing and transfer of artifacts are scheduled.
Training Courses in Japan
In addition to the training courses in Egypt, we decided to send the GEM conservators to the training courses in Japan because they can have more professional and practical training there without opening of the Conservation Center. After the participants returned from Japan, they are asked to make presentation on what they learned and experienced in Japan in a post-training briefing session to share information with their colleagues and others who are interested.
Training Courses on Conservation held in Japan in FY 2009
Period |
Subject |
Conducted by |
Number of Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8/07 – 2/09/2009 | Textile (advanced) | National Research Institute for Cultural Prosperities, Tokyo | 2 |
| 26/ 08 –18/09/2009; | Conservation Equipment | National Research Institute for Cultural Prosperities, Tokyo | 2 |
| 26 /09– 11/10/2009 | Packing and Transfer of the Artifacts | National Research Institute for Cultural Prosperities, Tokyo and Nippon Express Co., Ltd. | 7 |
Dispatching a Team of Conservation Experts
According to the original project plan, a conservation expert was supposed to be dispatched to make a long-term training plan in addition to conducting short-term workshops. However, it was found that no one has expertise enough to provide technical advices on all types of conservation work in Egypt because the area of specialty in the field of conservation is divided by material of artifacts. Therefore, we decided to send a team of conservation experts to make a conservation training program for the full-fledged phase starting next year.