Jodrell Bank could become World Heritage Site

Jodrell Bank has been identified as a prime contender to win World Heritage Site status under new rules designed to recognise the importance of scientific installations. Changes to the guidelines on how World Heritage Sites should be selected are being drawn up and will be debated in the summer. The rules, agreed in principle at a conference in London this week, will allow scientific centres such as Jodrell Bank to line up alongside the Egyptian Pyramids and the Great Barrier Reef.

World Heritage status has been reserved until now for human structures with a long history, such as the Taj Mahal, or important natural features such as the Galápagos Islands. The guidelines, however, preclude many of the locations that have proved pivotal to scientific research in the past 50 to 100 years. Officials hope that by drawing up fresh guidelines they can recognise more recent scientific centres that have played important roles in research and discovery.

Jodrell Bank, which is part of the Universty of Manchester, is regarded as a technological and cultural landmark behind a series of important discoveries in astronomy. It came to prominence in 1957 when it tracked the Sputnik carrier rocket and for years afterwards it was Britain’s only early-detection system for ballistic missile attacks.

The experts meeting to debate the Unesco World Heritage Convention proposals were hosted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The final decision will be taken by the World Heritage Committee in Quebec in July.

Jodrell Bank was one of only two scientific installations cited at the meeting this week as being of the type of scientific installation that would be important enough to qualify. The other was Cern, the European laboratory for particle physics on the Franco-Swiss border. The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is one of the few scientific centres included among the 851 existing World Heritage Sites recognising places of outstanding natural or cultural importance. Similarly, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has been made a World Heritage Site, but neither achieved the status because of its scientific achievements alone.

Christopher Young, head of world heritage for English Heritage, which advises the Government on the suitability of sites, said: “The World Heritage Convention is about cultural heritage and science is one very important part of that. The sort of place we might be looking at for would be a place of major importance in advancing understanding of the world around us. A good example of that is Jodrell Bank. It’s clearly very important.”

The Times pages 15 and 20, 26 January 2008

Heritage Studies Research Group Meetings

course on the archaeometry, technology and conservation of mosaics

Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
Istituto di Scienza e Tecnologia
dei Materiali Ceramici
Gruppo Beni Culturali

Mosaico: archeometria, tecnologia e conservazione
2° edizione

Corso di perfezionamento
(60 ore)

Per informazioni rivolgersi a:
Dr. Michele Macchiarola
CNR-ISTEC
Tel 0546 699773 Fax 0546 46381
e-mail mmacchiarola@istec.cnr.it

PROGRAMMA
25 FEBBRAIO
9-9.30 Registrazione partecipanti
9.30-10 Saluto e presentazione del corso
10-13 Storia del mosaico. Tipologie ed evoluzione
14-15 Materiali musivi. Tessere e malte
15-18 Tessere lapidee. Classificazione delle rocce
26 FEBBRAIO
9-11 Processi di degrado delle rocce
11-13 Tecniche di messa in opera e documentazione del mosaico
14-17 Tessere in vetro e in blu egizio
27 FEBBRAIO
9-13 Malte. Definizione. Classificazione. Normativa.
Processi di degrado
3 MARZO
9-11 Tecniche costruttive dei sectilia parietali antichi. Degrado del
mosaico: classificazione
11-13 Ceramica e processi di degrado
14-15 Rilievo e documentazione del degrado musivo
15-17 Diffrattometria dei raggi X (XRD)
4 MARZO
9-11 Analisi termiche (DTA-TGA)
11-13 Microscopia ottica
14-17 Laboratorio Microscopia ottica, XRD e DTA-TGA
10 MARZO
9-12 Microscopia elettronica con laboratorio
12-13 Spettrometria dei raggi X di fluorescenza (XRF)
14-17 Conservazione musiva in situ in contesti archeologici
11 MARZO
9-10 Porosimetria e granulometria
10-11 Spettrofotometria di emissione al plasma (ICP-AES)
11-13 Fotogrammetria per il rilievo e la documentazione dei Beni
Culturali
14-16 Laboratorio di porosimetria e granulometria
16-17 Cromatografia ionica (IC)
17 MARZO
9-11 Malte da restauro. Caratteristiche, normativa e applicazioni
11-13 Restauro di mosaici in laboratorio
14-16 Restauro di mosaici ricollocati su cemento
16-17 Discussione e approfondimenti su tecniche e prodotti per il
restauro musivo
18 MARZO
9-13 Esercitazioni di laboratorio
14-16.30 Interpretazione ed elaborazione dati
16.30 – 17 Discussione e chiusura corso

DOCENTI
Moh’d Saoud Abu Aysheh, Univ. Bologna, Dip. Archeologia
Claudia Angelelli, Univ. degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"
Pierluigi Buldini, CNR-ISTEC
Gianluigi Fiorella, Ditta Restauri
Sabrina Gualtieri, CNR-ISTEC
Guia Guarini, CNR-ISTEC
Alessandro Lugari, Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma
Michele Macchiarola, CNR-ISTEC
Andrea Ruffini, libero professionista
Idema Venturi, CNR-ISTEC
Antonio Zanutta, Univ. Bologna DISTART

Lady Victoria Colliery is Scotland’s most loved historic place

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland asked people to vote for the historic places they loved best in Scotland. The Lady Victoria Colliery in Newtongrange, Midlothian, which closed in 1981 and now houses the Scottish Mining Museum, came out top of the Treasured Places public vote. c 200,000 people took part in the vote.

Top ten: 1 Lady Victoria Colliery, Midlothian; 2 Glasgow School of Art; 3 King’s College, Aberdeen; 4 St Meddan’s, Troon, Ayrshire; 5 The Falkirk Wheel; 6 Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow; 7 The Standing Stones of Stenness, Orkney; 8 Skara Brae, Orkney; 9 Rosslyn Chapel, Midlothian; 10 Cumbernauld Town Centre, North Lanarkshire.

Fergus Waters, director of the Scottish Mining Museum, said: ‘There is a very rich seam of coal-mining heritage just under the skin of Scotland and this result reflects that and is also a tribute to what the Lady Victoria Colliery represents as the last surviving example of a once vast Scottish industry.’ Perhaps also for the political struggle against a hated Thatcher government as well ....?

Our Place: virtual space for people broadening access to heritage and culture

EH have launched a virtual space: "Our Place is for people who work in broadening access to heritage and culture. It is an online space where you can network with peers, share and be inspired by project case studies, and discuss the challenges facing you today. It also contains news, resources and links – everything you need to know about engaging communities with heritage."

To explore and register go to:
http://www.ourplacenetwork.org.uk/