- Barcelona Charter
The Barcelona Charter, in full the European Charta for the Conservation and Restoration of Traditional Ships in Operation is an informal but widely accepted standard for maintenance and restoration projects on historical watercraft that are still in operation as active sailing vessels.
Background
More than a thousand historical watercraft of any size are still in operation in Europe. Only a small number of them are registered monuments or real
museum ships , while nearly all of them have at least a certain historical or cultural value in the context of maritime or regional history. The wide majority of historical watercraft is owned and operated by private owners, associations, foundations etc.European Maritime Heritage , the European umbrella organization for traditional vessels in operation, decided to develop a code of best practice for the conversation and restoration of such vessels to safeguard the historical value of these vessels and to define methodological minimum standards for any work to be carried out on these vessels.A working group mainly consisting of Arne Gotved, John Robinson and the professional maritime historianIngo Heidbrink drafted the text of the Charter which was finally adopted by European Maritime Heritage in 2003.Contents
The Barcelona Charter describes in a small number of paragraphs how Conservation and Restoration of traditional ships in operation should be done. The basic principles are developed on the basis of the
Charter of Venice and include for example the requirement of proper documentation of all work carried out as well as proper historical background research as a basis for all work to be done. The aim of all paragraphs is to secure the particular historic value of a vessel for future generations although the vessel is still in operation and therefore certain safety-regulations of today have to be matched.The original text of the Charter has been written in [http://www.european-maritime-heritage.org/EMHsite/Cultural%20Council/barcelona%20charter.htm English] , but unofficial translations are available for a number of European languages ( [http://www.european-maritime-heritage.org/EMHsite/Cultural%20Council/barcelona%20charter.htm Dutch, French, and German] ). A detailed commentary on all paragraphs of the Charter was developed by the maritime historianIngo Heidbrink [Ingo Heidbrink (ed.), The Barcelona Charter, European Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Traditional Ships in Operation. Bremen (Hauschild Vlg) 2003.] .Relevance
Although the Barcelona Charter is not a binding legal instrument she is widely accepted as a code of best practice and is recognized by several European marine safety authorities as well as national owner organizations of historical watercraft.Despite the fact that the Barcelona Charter was written mainly as a European Charter the principles of the Charter can be applied globally and were for example although published by the National Research Institute for Restoration and Conservation of Japan [ National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, Conservation of Vessels, Tokyo (Office Hans)2004 ] .
References
External links
* [http://www.european-maritime-heritage.org/EMHsite/Cultural%20Council/barcelona%20charter.htm Barcelona-Charter]
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