Documentation and survey of cultural heritage: past and future in the age of new technologies
The launch of the qualifying degree for restorers of cultural heritage provides an opportunity to reflect on
the survey, representation and, more generally, the documentation of cultural heritage in all its various
forms. The most recent developments in computer science, with the aim of creating a global system for
the conservation of knowledge about cultural heritage, have made available innovative methodologies and
computer technologies capable of tackling two important issues related to the knowledge and conservation
of cultural heritage: the “electronic memory” and the digitisation of historical and recent documentation.
Systems such as SICaR - Sistema Informatico per la documentazione e la progettazione dei cantieri di
Restauro (Information System for the documentation and planning of Restoration Sites) and CDR
Conservation Digital Report web-based - arise precisely from this new modern approach to knowledge
and management of Cultural Heritage and aim to collect and organise as effectively as possible all
the information and data relating to a restoration site in order to facilitate planning in view of future
interventions or for the drafting of a maintenance plan for the asset being restored.
The two systems, SICaR and CDR, being knowledge and management tools, are able to produce
extraordinary results both on a quantitative level and for the value of the organisational and methodological
process, which constitutes a significant added value to the “good practices” of restoration.
