The cooperation between ICUA Zadar and Heritage Malta

The cooperation between ICUA Zadar and Heritage Malta, the Maltese national agency for museums, conservation practice and cultural heritage started on 1st April 2022.
The introductory online lecture was given by the head of the Conservation and Restoration Department  Antonija Jozić, and the restorers Martina Ćurković Madiraca and Zdenka Vrgoč are currently in Malta, where practical training related to the restoration of ceramics and glass is underway.

The national agency Heritage Malta was established in 2002 under the Maltese Cultural Heritage Act. The Unit for underwater cultural heritage was created in 2019 and it’s currently in the process of forming (establishing) a national laboratory that would deal with the conservation and restoration of objects found in underwater environment.

The Heritage Malta staff, conservators-restorers, need additional practical and theoretical training on more complex procedures, including scientific case analysis, documenting the situation, deciding on the type of intervention needed to preserve the historical and material integrity of the object, implementing complex interventions on the cultural property itself, as well as its preventive protection, preservation and presentation.
For this reason, Ms. Antonia Sammut from the national agency Heritage Malta and Ms. Antonija Jozić, head of the ICUA Zadar Restoration and Conservation Department have agreed on future joint cooperation.

The cooperation agreement was signed and agreed as follows:
ICUA Zadar conservators and restorers will design and develop a tailor-made education program for 8 conservators-restorers of Heritage Malta. The training program will consist of a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part will be organized through online lectures, while the practical part will be held in the premises of Heritage Malta, as part of which the ICUA restorers will be in Malta for two terms. The program will provide education in the conservation and restoration of various materials such as: metal, ceramics, glass and organic material. The cooperation will take place in the period from April to June 2022.

The aim of this partnership - in addition to training conservation experts at the international level, practically and theoretically - contributes equally to the UNESCO program goals to which ICUA Zadar as UNESCO category 2 centre has committed itself. Thus the Centre further upgrades its network of relevant institutions in partner countries.