From 22 to 26 August 2016, the Center for Cultural Property Protection held its Summer School on the Protection of Cultural Property. The focus was on the Traismauer Museum. The week offered the 24 participants theoretical knowledge, the development of an emergency plan for the evacuation of the museum's cultural property, the fire brigade's exercise and an evacuation exercise with experts from the Austrian Armed Forces and the Danube University Krems.
Before working in teams, the participants attended lectures on topics such as the protection of cultural property, international humanitarian law, the 1954 Hague Convention and the Danube Limes in Austria. The Traismauer Museum, its archaeological collection and an analysis of the initial situation formed another important pillar of the week's main objective:
The task of the participants was to develop an emergency evacuation plan for the Traismauer Museum, part of the future UNESCO World Heritage Site Danube Limes. The legal aspects of an evacuation, the correct inventory of the objects to be evacuated and the most efficient methods for carrying out an evacuation by the emergency services were developed in three working groups.
Practical exercises included
On 24 August 2016, the volunteer fire brigade of Traismaur carried out an exercise. The exercise was based on a fire in a pizzeria not far from the so-called Wiener Tor, where valuable cultural property is located. The fire was prevented from spreading and the Wiener Tor, whose statics were affected by the extinguishing operation, was supported.
The evacuation exercise took place on 26 August 2016: Soldiers from the Lower Austrian Military Command, cultural heritage experts from the Austrian Armed Forces and the Danube University Krems, as well as the participants of the Summer School, rescued some of the cultural artefacts located in the Wiener Tor, which was in danger of collapsing. The most valuable archaeological material was taken to Traismauer Castle, cleaned, repacked and stored in a special depot.
At the end of the week, the results of the group work and the evacuation exercise were presented in the Audimax of the Danube University Krems.
Summer School 2016 Impressions
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