Podyplomowe studium konserwacji zabytków Uniwersytetu w Bambergu i Politechniki w Coburgu

• Authors: Hubel Achim
• Languages of publication: PL EN

Abstracts

EN

The abbreviated article by Prof. A.Hube! which presents the establishment of one of the three postgraduate courses in the protection of monuments, at present conducted in Germany (the former Federal Republic of Germany) can constitute a contribution to new reflections on the training of our conservators. The article draws attention to the active part played by the conservation authorities in the initiation of the course, and their subsequent cooperation in the realisation of he didactic programme. The appearance in several years of three different conservation postgraduate courses indicates a rapid reaction to the postulates of the conservators themselves. Particularly noteworthy is the fact tnat the establishment of the course did not involve to any extent conservation or construction companies. Hence the conclusion that the course was the outcome primarily of the need for guaranteeing suitable conservation supervision and not, as is the case in Poland, for the sake of raising the qualifications of professionally active construction overseers, planners or technical services. This fact is the result i.a. of the large freedom of choice enjoyed by German investors as regards various companies, which, as a rule, do not include properly trained technical staff. This trend seems to be wortny of further notice especially in the new conditions in Poland in which specialized Workshops for the Conservation of Monuments became one of the potential executors of conservation work which is now entrusted to various firms; this situation, in turn, results in the need for strict conservation supervision. The author makes important remarks concerning the part which should be played by the conservator, who appears both as a decision maker, the source of opinions, and as a partner for architects, investors, politicians and local authorities. The function of the post-graduate course is, therefore, above all to provide the future conservator with indispensable theoretical and practical knowledge which, as it follows from the present day state of the training of the staff in German conservation offices and institutions, still remains a difficult problem. In contrast to Polish postgraduate courses, the German counterparts are organized for day students and essentially constitute a continuation of M.A. courses. Owing to the intensity of the studies, their participants cannot work professionally, a requirement which they accept, well aware of the fact that thecompletion of such a course increases their professional opportunities. The Postgraduate Course for the Conservation of Monuments at Warsaw Polytechnic faces a number of growing obstacles. The latter are the outcome predominantly of the unwillingness on the part of enterprises and institutions to delegate their employees, a fact connected with the high attendance fees which cannot be convered by the participants themselves. The course owes its existence to a large degree to the enthusiasm of the didactic staff at the Institute of the History of Architecture and Art at Warsaw Polytechnic which cooperates with the Workshops for the Conservation of Monuments; the latter regard the training of their workers as their basic obligation. The once centralized system of administration, which respected the far-going independence of the Departments of the Workshops, made it impossible to insist on the obligation to provide training, if only by means of suitably formulated principles of renumeration, in accordance to which the holding of key posts depended on graduation from a postgraduate course in the conservation of monuments. Today, due to the privatization of the enterprises, the heretoore Departments are replaced by independent companies of the Workshops. Other forms are, and will be, established, which also undertake to carry out conservation work in various fields. In these changed conditions, the training of a staff ceased to be a matter which involved bilateral contacts and the work of university centres and specialist enterprises (Workshops for the Conservation of Monuments). This role should now be taken over by other factors, specially created for this purpose. It appears that it should be also fulfilled in the domain of culture and art, or, more precisel by, the general conservator who should take into consideration not only the needs of the enterprises but also the requirements of tne conservation authorities at all levels. The presented reflections did not neglect financial issues. It is necessary to create such a system of preferences, possibly in the form of subsidies or tax reduction, which would ensure an influx of candidates recruited from conservation offices and enterprises. The necessity of postgraduate courses for professionally active conservators is confirmed by longterm praxis. These courses must be more suited to the needs of the particular domains of the protection of cultural monuments, and could be generally divided into: — a general course in the conservation of monuments intended for employees of conservation offices; — a course in the conservation of architectural monuments, attended by employees of planning offices and conservators, with a possibility for further specialization (architectonic planning, conservation of gardens). Regardless of the present day formula of postgraduate courses for professionally active persons, the training of new personel for the protection of cultural heritage should also be taken into consideration. The German system based on courses, presented by Prof. A.Hubel, appears to be very attractive and could be applied in Poland as a form of retraining or adaptation for professional work for graduates of various departments which offer few jobs (historians of art, archeologists and architects), and thus increase their professional opportunities. Such a solution should be treated as transitory and the main goal, as postulated by Prof. Hubel, is to create specialized conservation courses within the normal curriculum of the departments of the history of art and architecture. Assuming, with great probability, that in the nearest future, the need for specialists w ill grow, due i.a. to the necessary adaptation of new organizational requirements, the training of suitable conservators becomes extremely topical and will constitute a factor on which the functioning of our system for the protection of cultural monuments will depend to a great extent. The Editors

• Publisher: Narodowy Instytut Dziedzictwa
• Journal: Ochrona Zabytków
• Year: 1991
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 249-253

Dates

published

1991

Contributors

author

Hubel Achim

References

• Das Aufbaustudium Denkmalpflege der Universitat Bamberg und der Fachhochschule Coburg w: Dokumentation der Jahrestagung 1987 in Bamberg. Thema: Bauforschung und Denkmalpflege, Arbeitskreis Theorie und Lehre der Denkmalpflege e.V., Bamberg 1989, ss. 53-59.

Identifiers

ISSN

0029-8247