Experts from several countries will talk about heritage conservation after 1945

photo: iRozhlas.cz

Prague – Experts from both the Czech Republic and abroad will discuss the development of heritage conservation after 1945 at an online conference. The program will focus not only on Czechoslovakia but also on the situation in Austria, Hungary, and Romania at that time. The conference will take place from April 26 to April 29. The Czech Academy of Sciences (AV) informed CTK about it in a press release today. The conference is organized by AV, the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, and the National Heritage Institute.

"There has been minimal attention paid to the protection of monuments during this period and in this region. The main reason is likely that historical research focused on this area requires an interdisciplinary approach, collaboration between conservators, historians, and art historians. We would like to take the first step in this direction with the conference," said Kristina Uhlíková, who works at the Institute of Art History AV.

According to the organizers, over 30 contributions will be presented at the conference. The event will open with a lecture by Cathleen M. Giustinova from Auburn University in Alabama on the structure of heritage conservation in Czechoslovakia and the handling of furniture during the mass resettlements and expropriations. Later, attendees will hear discussions on architecture and urbanism, during which experts will talk about the care of monuments in Frankfurt an der Oder or the Palace of Culture in Dresden. Other lectures will address the approach to industrial monuments in the former German Democratic Republic, the disappearance of monuments in the Czech borderlands, or the depiction of cultural heritage in documentary films. The conference will also focus on the fate of ecclesiastical monuments.

People can follow the conference on the YouTube channel of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes.