Participation in the 2009 Restauro Fair

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The monumental and literary city of Ferrara, in Italy, hosted the sixteenth edition of RESTAURO - Salone dell´arte del Restauro e della Conservazione dei Beni Culturali e Ambientali – from 25 to 28 March 2009. This is the most important fair held in Italy on to the conservation and curating of cultural, historical, artistic, architectural and landscape heritage and one of the most important and well-known fairs in the European Union, due to Italy’s importance in the field of cultural heritage.

The four-day fair included activities, exhibitions and events in an exhibition centre combining the business area with a wide programme of lectures and technical workshops carried out by institutions and companies working in cultural heritage, focusing on the most pressing issues and latest methodologies in heritage management and restoration, and giving rise to discussions and the sharing of experiences and management criteria among the participants.

RESTAURO 2009 saw 278 exhibitors taking part in the 16,000 m2 exhibition space, with 40 lectures, 110 technical meetings organised by exhibitors and 12 exhibition-events.

This edition was the fourth year running that the Junta de Castilla y León took part with its own institutional stand and contributions to the technical meetings.

The stand focused on the AR&PA Fair organised by the Junta de Castilla y León, displaying a selection of the most important cultural heritage programmes and actions carried out by the Department of Culture and Tourism.

Taking part in this event made it possible to promote the AR&PA Biennial Fair and publicise the most significant cultural heritage management projects and interventions carried out in Castilla y León. Within this framework, the Junta de Castilla y León has recently signed some agreements with the organisers of the RESTAURO Fair and the Cultural Heritage Fair (Paris), in order to collaborate on joint actions at the three events and encourage technical and business exchanges between these European countries.

At 9.45 a.m. on Friday 27, Mr. Enrique Saiz Martin, General Director of Cultural Heritage at the Junta de Castilla y León, gave a lecture as part of the programme of technical meetings called “AR&PA, much more than a Restoration Fair”, providing an overview of previous AR&PA events and unveiling the anticipated criteria and plans for AR&PA 2010, which is intended to centre on the relationship between heritage and society.

The corporate image of the AR&PA Fair was also presented. The title of this presentation shows the new direction of AR&PA, which has become more than a one-off event, developing into a permanent arena for reflecting on and discussing cultural heritage management and actions, a means of constantly updating procedures and tools used to evaluate, maintain, restore and interpret cultural assets. The aim of this is for AR&PA to become a brand and a point of reference for criteria for action on cultural heritage, and a medium-term programme to reinforce society’s awareness and appreciation of heritage, making it into a stable resource for development.

Read more: RESTAURO Fair