Mosaics Conservation

Since the beginning of the collaborative MOSAIKON Initiative in 2008, several courses to train conservation technicians in the treatment and maintenance of mosaics were carried out on archeological sites in North Africa and the Middle East by the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) in cooperation with national authorities in the region.

These twenty-two-week courses, presented in four modules over two years, trained over thirty government employees from eight different countries, strengthening each country's institutional capacity to conserve its mosaic heritage.

These regional courses followed four similar courses over eight years at different sites in Tunisia beginning in 2001, a collaboration of the Institut National du Patrimoine de Tunisie and the Conservation Institute.

The emphasis of the Conservation Institute’s courses was on practical training. However, key components were first presented theoretically with classroom-based lessons that introduced different aspects of mosaic conservation from documentation to reburial.

For the MOSAIKON courses, slide presentations were developed for the lessons to complement the Conservation Institute’s previously published handbook, Technician Training for the Maintenance of In Situ Mosaics, and supporting reference materials made available to the field.

While the original focus of the lessons was the conservation of in situ mosaics, the training courses evolved to include detached and re-laid mosaics, mosaics in storage, as well as the conservation of architectural remains and decorative surfaces, such as walls and wall plasters which often surround mosaic pavements on sites.

The twenty-four classroom-based lessons prepared for the MOSAIKON Initiative by the instructor team of consulting conservators and educators and Conservation Institute staff are made available as a training resource to conservation professionals engaged in the training of conservation technicians for mosaics on sites and in storage, as well as other architectural remains.

The lessons were originally produced in French, as the training took place first in Tunisia, then Morocco. Subsequent training was carried out in Lebanon for participants from Middle Eastern countries in collaboration with ICCROM and the Directorate General of Antiquities of Lebanon, and an English-language edition was produced. An Arabic edition followed.

Together with the publications, Technician Training for the Maintenance of In Situ Mosaics, Illustrated Glossary, and Supplemental Manuals for Digital Photographic Documentation (available in English, French, and Arabic), these lessons constitute the body of didactic materials produced by the MOSAIKON Initiative and made freely available to the conservation field to support future training in mosaics conservation.

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Use of these materials