PROCULTHER-NET 2

Cultural heritage constitutes every community's identity and history: safeguarding it becomes a priority objective during emergencies and in ordinary times when all the activities necessary for its protection and preservation can be planned.

In January 2024, the PROCULTHER-NET 2 project was launched to enhance the Union's resilience in protecting cultural heritage and to strengthen the process of learning and knowledge sharing. This project is the new phase of a long journey that began with PROCULTHER (2019-2021) and was followed by PROCULTHER-NET (2022-2023). The work carried out during these years has facilitated the promotion of multidisciplinary exchange practices and has supported and complemented EU efforts in civil protection and cultural heritage protection.

The new project, scheduled to run until December 2025, reaffirms the actions taken with PROCULTHER-NET. It involves organizing study visits and regional, interdisciplinary seminars to facilitate the transfer of knowledge among the scientific and research communities on topics related to protecting at-risk cultural heritage at both national and European levels.

In addition, training sessions addressed to risk management and cultural property protection experts and open to research representatives from Mechanism member countries will be organized during 2025. These sessions will provide valuable opportunities for discussions and training activities to update the PROCULTHER methodology, expand the thematic community, and facilitate the exchange of ideas related to the content presented in the Technical Bulletins available on this page.

PROCULTHER-NET is also on social media with a Facebook, X and LinkedIn profile and the hashtag #ProcultherNet.

Established to build on the accomplishments of PROCULTHER and PROCULTHER-NET, the PROCULTHER-NET 2 project is focused on enhancing the European thematic community's efforts to protect cultural heritage at risk. This will be achieved by sharing best practices and adopting multi-sectoral approaches, with a specific emphasis on providing guidance for governance and ensuring long-term sustainability.

The plan of activities includes three main lines of action:

• Connection. This involves strengthening and expanding the network of experts by drafting guidelines and operational standards to support the community dedicated to protecting cultural heritage in emergencies.
• Knowledge Sharing. This will be achieved through training and education activities based on the needs identified among the actors involved in cultural heritage management. This will include thematic workshops and the publication of technical bulletins on relevant topics.
• Growth. This involves contributing to the efforts of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism to integrate cultural heritage protection in emergencies.

The Civil Protection Department is the leader of the Consortium managing the project and cooperates with the Ministry of Interior - Disaster and Emergency Management Authority-AFAD (Türkiye), the German Archaeological Institute-DAl (Germany), the Ministry of the Interior-Directorate General of Civil Security and Crisis Management-DGSCGC (France), the Hallgarten Foundation-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca- FCSVM, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Government of the Castilla y León Region-JCyL (Spain), the Federal Agency for Technical Relief-THW (Germany), UNISOB-University Suor Orsola Benincasa (Italy), and the University of Porto-U.PORTO (Portugal).