Learn & Discover

Damage Assessment is the process of systematically identifying, documenting, and evaluating physical, structural, and material damage to cultural heritage caused by disasters, forming the basis for stabilization and restoration decisions.

Source: ICOMOS, ICCROM

Damage Assessment is a concept or practice used to reduce harm from hazards and manage emergencies affecting people, assets, and heritage. It supports preparedness, response, and recovery decisions with clear roles and prioritized actions.

Source: UNDRR, UNESCO

Data Logger is a conservation approach or technique used to stabilize, preserve, or restore heritage materials and structures. It aims to protect significance while minimizing unnecessary change and documenting all interventions.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

Data Protection describes ethical principles or engagement practices that protect people, respect communities, and improve collaboration in heritage work. It emphasizes consent, accountability, and culturally appropriate decision-making.

Source: ICCROM, UNESCO

Data Sharing Agreement relates to the legal, institutional, or policy frameworks that govern heritage protection and emergency action. It clarifies responsibilities, permissible actions, and cooperation across jurisdictions and organizations.

Source: UNESCO, Hague Convention, UNIDROIT, ICOM

Deacidification is a conservation approach or technique used to stabilize, preserve, or restore heritage materials and structures. It aims to protect significance while minimizing unnecessary change and documenting all interventions.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

A preservation technique used mainly for paper, books, and archival documents to neutralize acids and slow down deterioration. Paper manufactured from the 19th century onwards often contains acidic compounds that lead to yellowing and embrittlement. Deacidification treatments (such as spraying or immersion in alkaline solutions) raise the pH level of paper, extending the lifespan of these documents.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

Debris Management is a concept or practice used to reduce harm from hazards and manage emergencies affecting people, assets, and heritage. It supports preparedness, response, and recovery decisions with clear roles and prioritized actions.

Source: UNDRR, UNESCO

Efforts to address and undo the legacy of colonialism in how cultural heritage is managed, interpreted, and represented. This can involve returning stolen artifacts to their countries or communities of origin (repatriation), revising museum exhibits that previously told history only from a colonial perspective, and supporting the heritage practices and voices of formerly colonized peoples to ensure their narratives are respected and central in heritage spaces.

Source: UNESCO, Hague Convention, UNIDROIT, ICOM

Desalination is a conservation approach or technique used to stabilize, preserve, or restore heritage materials and structures. It aims to protect significance while minimizing unnecessary change and documenting all interventions.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

In conservation, the process of extracting harmful salts from porous materials like stone, pottery, or wall plasters. Salts often enter heritage objects through groundwater, sea spray, or previous cleaning chemicals and can cause damage by crystallizing and expanding inside the material (efflorescence). Desalination typically involves repeated soaking or poulticing to draw out the salts gently.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

Cultural content and expressions that are created, stored, or presented in digital form. This includes digitized collections (like scanned manuscripts or 3D models of artifacts) and born-digital materials (such as digital art, photography, or oral history recordings), which require special care to preserve for future access.

Source: UNESCO, ICOMOS

Disaster Risk is a concept or practice used to reduce harm from hazards and manage emergencies affecting people, assets, and heritage. It supports preparedness, response, and recovery decisions with clear roles and prioritized actions.

Source: UNDRR, UNESCO

Disaster Risk Reduction is a concept or practice used to reduce harm from hazards and manage emergencies affecting people, assets, and heritage. It supports preparedness, response, and recovery decisions with clear roles and prioritized actions.

Source: UNDRR, UNESCO

Do No Harm describes ethical principles or engagement practices that protect people, respect communities, and improve collaboration in heritage work. It emphasizes consent, accountability, and culturally appropriate decision-making.

Source: ICCROM, UNESCO

A guiding principle originally from the medical field, applied in heritage and community work to mean that interventions should not inadvertently cause injury or adverse effects. In cultural heritage, Do No Harm reminds practitioners to consider the social and cultural ramifications of their actions – for instance, not disrupting local ways of life, not causing trauma by the way history is presented, or not taking measures that protect artifacts but endanger people.

Source: ICCROM, UNESCO

Records and documents of important cultural value, such as manuscripts, archives, photographs, films, and sound recordings. This form of heritage, often preserved in libraries, archives, or museums, serves as a memory of society by capturing information and stories from the past.

Source: UNESCO, ICOMOS

Documentation is a conservation approach or technique used to stabilize, preserve, or restore heritage materials and structures. It aims to protect significance while minimizing unnecessary change and documenting all interventions.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

Drainage Improvement is a conservation approach or technique used to stabilize, preserve, or restore heritage materials and structures. It aims to protect significance while minimizing unnecessary change and documenting all interventions.

Source: ICCROM, ICOMOS

Duty of Care describes ethical principles or engagement practices that protect people, respect communities, and improve collaboration in heritage work. It emphasizes consent, accountability, and culturally appropriate decision-making.

Source: ICCROM, UNESCO