The Cultural Heritage of a Nation Contact

Includes, according to the The Hague Convention: BBK Department III

• Immovable historical monuments, archaeological sites and Section III.1
grouped buildings Research, Protection Commission,
Specialist Information Centre
• Works of fine arts and crafts of all epochs which are, as a rule, – Protection of Cultural Assets –
preserved in museums
• Creations and works of poets, philosophers, composers and
scientists collected by libraries You can reach contact persons on:
Phone: +49 (0) 228 99 550-4100
• Written tradition, hand-drawn maps and plans kept in archives
• Museums, archives, libraries, storage
sites for movable cultural assets and Courses on Cultural Asset Protection
historical monument sites. (Academy for Crisis Management, Emergency
Planning and Civil Protection)
It is the duty of those
taking responsibility – Students Office –
today to protect these Telephone: (0228) 99 550 5170
cultural assets in such Fax: (0228) 99 550 5191
a way that future ge- Email: teilnehmerbuero@bbk.bund.de
nerations can use Bust of
them as a source of Charlemagne,
knowledge even in Cathedral For more information please contact:
the distant future. Treasure, Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz
Aix-la-Chapelle und Katastrophenhilfe (BBK)
Provinzialstrasse 93
53127 Bonn
Microfilms as Long-Term Storage Medium Postfach 1867
The volume of all archival documents and movable cultural assets 53008 Bonn
in Germany is so large that in hazard situations transport to the Telephone: +49(0)228-99550-0
few existing storage sites is only possible to a limited extent. Homepage: www.bbk.bund.de
Thus, additional measures are necessary to ensure safety of Email: poststelle@bbk.bund.de
irreplaceable and unique assets.
Since 1961, the Federal Government has therefore used micro-
filming (“back-up filming”) as a technically simple and economical
possibility for the long-term preservation of archives and cultural © BBK 2009
assets worthy of protection for future generations (at least as
films).

Protection of
500 Years…
Cultural Assets in the
…without any loss of information – this is the storage life of micro-
films according to scientific knowledge. Event of Armed Conflict
At 14 Federal and Länder back-up filming centres, films are compi-
led on large film rolls and stored in special stainless-steel contai-
ners. These containers are stored at the Central Storage Site of
the Federal Republic of Germany which has been endued with
the triple protection sign of the The Hague Convention.
Performance Potentials of Civil Protection
Performance Potentials of Civil Protection The Hague Convention Concerning the Measures According to the The Hague
In response to new threats such as 11 September 2001 and the Protection of Cultural Assets in Armed Convention
flood catastrophe of 2002, the Federal Office of Civil Protection Conflicts
and Disaster Assistance (BBK) was established on 1 May 2004. In Germany, the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster
In accomplishment of its mission to promote cultural co-operation Assistance (BBK) is in charge of the implementation of measures
With this Office, the Federal Republic of Germany has a central according to the The Hague Convention for the protection of
between nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
organisation element for preventive security. cultural assets in armed conflicts.
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) organised a conference in The
The interdisciplinary approach of this office includes all services of Hague in May 1954 with the aim to prepare a cultural protection These measures comprise:
preventive security and links them up to an efficient protection convention. The result of this conference was the
system for the population and its basic survival needs. • Circulation of the text
The Hague Convention Concerning the Protection of of the Convention
Therefore the BBK is not only a technical authority of the Federal Cultural Assets in Armed Conflicts
Ministry of the Interior (BMI) but also gives competent advice and • Back-up recording
which was signed on 14 May 1954 by the majority of the 56 on film of Federal
support to the other Federal and Land authorities to help them
member states, including the Federal Republic of Germany. Government and
with the completion of their tasks.
Meanwhile, more than 100 states have joined the Convention. Laender archival
Hence there is now one central authority documents
The Federal Republic of Germany ratified this Convention by law
• To fulfil the tasks of the Federal Government with regard to civil • Back-up recording
of 11 April 1967.
protection and the co-ordination of international co-operation on film of unique
• To prepare national and area risk analyses, hazard cadastres library documents
and emergency planning as well as to co-ordinate civil-military- • Identification of
police co-operation immovable cultural World cultural heritage, the little hut of
• To provide conceptual planning and interdisciplinary co-ordina- assets Völklingen
tion of the protection of critical infrastructures • Photogrammetric registration of identified cultural assets
• To ensure national information, communication and resource • Building of storage areas for movable cultural assets
management in case of damage
• Training of management and executive personnel from
• To co-ordinate technical-scientific research relating to civil museums, archives, libraries etc. at the Academy for Crisis
protection as well as to the protection of the population against Management, Emergency Planning and Civil Protection
weapons of mass destruction Anthropologic National
Collection, Munich
• To ensure threat-adequate civil protection training of executives
at high and highest administrative levels
• To provide national co-ordination of the European integration Goethe and Schiller in Weimar Identification of Cultural Assets
process in the field of preventive security
Immovable cultural assets that are protected under
• To provide disaster medicine
the Convention – buildings, historical and industrial
• To procuring equipment for civil protection. monuments, ensembles, parks – are registered at
the BBK in a central file and all marked in the same
Cultural assets
ultramarine and white colour.
are, according to this Convention and
A special subject area: irrespective of their origin or owners-
Measures for the protection hip:
of cultural assets in armed The Triple Sign
conflicts Immovable cultural assets that
have to be protected on site
Identifies cultural assets under
Movable cultural assets that must special protection. In Germany, it is
be moved to safe storage areas to be only assigned once and identifies
protected from hazard situations the Central Storage Site of the
Buildings for the preservation Vessel for holy water, Federal Republic of Germany in
Trier Cathedral, of cultural assets, e.g. museums, Cathedral Treasure, Oberried near Freiburg/Breisgau.
exterior view libraries, archives, storage areas. Aix-la-Chapelle