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The flooded historic St. Kornelius Church in Kornelimünster near Aachen: Suddenly a disaster area
Photo: Wassilis Aswestopoulos / imago images
The destructive potential of the weather in times of climate change is also increasingly threatening important cultural sites. In Michelle Müntefering's home in North Rhine-Westphalia, buildings and places of historical importance have only just been damaged or washed away, so the SPD politician now wants to promote emergency measures in the event of a disaster all the more urgently on the international stage.
As Minister of State in the Foreign Ministry, Müntefering is responsible for foreign cultural policy and traveled to Rome in this capacity. When the culture ministers of the G20 countries meet there today and tomorrow, she wants to bring them closer to a rapid response mechanism, a fast-acting rescue mechanism. This would enable a task force of experts and modular technical equipment to be set up within hours with which an emergency laboratory for conservation could be set up on site. In this way, Müntefering explains to SPIEGEL, for example soaked scrolls could be treated.
The first prototypes for rescue modules were developed last year; they enable, among other things, the emergency documentation, cleaning and protective packaging of objects.
This autumn they are to be tested together with the Sudanese National Museum in Khartoum.
The project is a response to flood disasters, not just in Germany.
Historical cultural metropolises such as Venice are repeatedly flooded, and a few days after the devastating events in Germany, there were floods in India and China.
There, among other things, the Buddha statues in the Longmen Grottoes on the Yi River threatened to be destroyed by the water.
The floods in Germany have shown that even areas with comparatively moderate weather can become disaster areas within hours.
This means that climate change has finally become an important issue in the election campaign.
This is also why Müntefering uses the appearance in Rome.
The ad hoc measures it propagates could, however, also take effect in the event of explosions such as in Beirut 2020 or fires.
In fact, the fire in the National Museum in Rio in 2018 was an occasion to develop strategies together with the German Archaeological Institute.
An association of experts - the »KulturGutRetter« - should in future be more closely involved in the processes of the technical relief organization and in European programs.
The project is being supported with 1.5 million euros this year - a sum that can be expanded.
The meeting of the culture ministers of the G20 countries is the first of its kind. The aim is to clarify the importance of culture as well as its endangerment. In addition, it should be about criminal robbery and smuggling as well as the effects of the corona crisis.
