ZAGREB, April 13, 2020 – The Croatian branch of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) has joined the initiative for high standards in overcoming the consequences of the March 22 earthquake that struck Zagreb and its environs.
Concerned about daily news about incompetence in handling the heritage damaged in the earthquake, the national branch of the IIC has joined the initiative launched by architects and art historians to establish a coordinating body for the post-earthquake restoration of Zagreb, the Vice President of IIC Croatia, Ksenija Škarić, announced last week.
Škarić noted that the bill on the post-earthquake reconstruction of Zagreb had been criticised by many specialists, primarily due to the lack of consultation with relevant professions.
The IIC Croatia group also pointed out the “scandalous photographs of architectural decorations dumped at Zagreb’s landfills”, emphasising the importance of their recovery, or at least of their documentation.
They think that fragments of architectural decoration, as well as other objects of historic value, should be stored in depots, if only in makeshift ones. They also underscored the urgency of implementing measures to preserve buildings and objects of cultural importance from secondary damage, and setting up a dedicated restoration and conservation database.
The database would include international contacts (experts and institutions), foreign examples (plans and programmes for restoration and reconstruction, legislative frameworks, guidelines for the reconstruction of areas and individual buildings), domestic examples (plans and programmes for restoration and reconstruction, guidelines for the reconstruction of areas and individual buildings), and archival data on Zagreb (studies, articles, research projects and books).
More news about the earthquake can be found in the Lifestyle section.
