The aim of this practical hands-on training project is to develop teams of skilled technician-level practitioners in different countries of the MOSAIKON region who can address basic stabilization and maintenance needs of in situ and lifted mosaics.

Background

Mosaic pavements constitute a shared inheritance from the Roman and Byzantine world throughout the Mediterranean region. Due to the vast number of mosaics presently at risk, there is an urgency to train skilled practitioners at both the technician and conservator levels to preserve this heritage.

While encouraging the training of conservators in the region at existing professional university programs, the Getty Conservation Institute and the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP) of Tunisia, beginning in 2001, carried out four courses for technician-level personnel at sites in various regions of Tunisia. These courses consisted of twenty-two weeks of instruction plus required practical work between the training sessions over a period of two years. They provided the training model for the MOSAIKON regional course for technicians from North Africa (2012—2013).

The Getty Foundation has supported, through a series of grants to the Centro di Conservazione Archeologica, MOSAIKON regional training courses for conservation technicians of mosaics that have been lifted from archaeological sites. Beginning in 2011, two programs have already been completed, and additional courses will continue over the next three years, training restorers from Syria, Tunisia, Jordan, and Libya.

Objectives

The MOSAIKON regional technician training courses for in situ mosaics aim to provide participants with the skills necessary to independently stabilize and maintain in situ mosaics on a daily basis. The training emphasizes preventive interventions such as controlling vegetation and rainwater drainage, as well as reburial.

Similar to its in situ counterpart, the MOSAIKON regional technician training courses for lifted mosaics aim to teach the specialized skills necessary to care for, stabilize, and store lifted mosaics in museum or other types of collections. The courses will result in training for approximately thirty restorers.