Post date: Oct 01, 2012 8:14:46 PM
Over the course of the term I have become familiar with the way the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, has helped improve the cultural and historical aspects of Venice. After the flood on November 3rd and 4th in 1966, UNESCO appealed to the United Nations for help in assessing the damage done by this overwhelming flood in Venice. Several buildings and works of art were ruined under more than one meter of water. After UNESCO finished their initial assessment, they realized that Venice was a critical heritage site. However, it was not until 1987 that Venice was officially added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. After this addition, an office was added in Venice so that UNESCO could have a permanent place of residence in the city.
UNESCO’s main reason for permanent residence is that the flood season in Venice is very damaging. Every year between October and April, Venice is subject to chronic flooding that wears down all relics within a few feet of sea level. Primarily, the artifacts within the church floors suffer almost irreparable damage. Our project focuses on assessing the damage done to the more than two thousand floor artifacts that have such cultural importance. Since four past projects have already done a physical assessment of these artifacts, our main objective is to collect all of this data and present a list of artifacts to UNESCO that have a high priority for preservation. Since funds are limited, we plan to also supplement the Venice Public Art smart phone application with this collected information. The application was made this summer and creates an opportunity for interested patrons to donate any amount of money to an artifact in need that they care about. These donations are used directly to restore a floor artifact that is important to the cultural history of Venice and is too damaged for the people of Venice to enjoy to its fullest effect.
Furthermore, all information previously collected on these artifacts within the floors of the churches will be presented to the English speaking world through an online database called Venipedia. Our main goal is to compile all previously gathered information regarding each of the 2200 floor artifacts and present it through a separate database page for each relic. Each page will contain the details of what each artifact is, as well as the damage it has suffered as a result of aqua alta, or high water. This environmental effect is the primary reason we will be going to Venice.
After we have completed our prioritization list, the Venipedia pages, and supplementing the Venice Public Art application, the damaged artifacts in the church floors of Venice can hold a little bit of hope of getting some sort of protection against further damage. With the donations from the application and the damage information readily available to anyone in the world, Venice will hopefully gain some help in preserving their precious artifacts for future generations to enjoy.
I hope you consider donating at preservenice.org! Keep checking in on our progress throughout the next two months and by mid-December we'll have everything posted on our website.
Enjoy!
~Danielle Dechaine