What is it about?

This publication looks at how the history of restoration work on the Monastery of San Millán de Yuso has been documented since it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. It points out that restoration records are often scattered and unconnected, which makes it hard to manage and protect historic buildings over time. The goal is to create a system that organizes and connects all this information so it can be better used, preserved, and shared in the future.

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Why is it important?

This work offers a timely and practical contribution by proposing a structured system to manage and connect documentation from past and future restoration projects. What makes it unique is the creation of a catalogue of document types organized by intervention phases, helping link previous actions with future ones for more efficient heritage management. Using the UNESCO-listed Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla as a case study, the research highlights real challenges and proposes a flexible method that could be adapted to other heritage sites. By promoting long-term planning and improving access to documentation, this approach encourages better-informed decision-making, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and sustained conservation strategies. The proposal is open, practical, and ready to be tested and adapted by other professionals in the field.

Perspectives

Writing this article was a very meaningful experience for me, as it reflects part of the research developed during the second and third years of my PhD. It was through this work that I had the opportunity to get to know the Monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla in depth — a site of exceptional historical and cultural value. Moreover, this publication allowed me to create the Catalogue of Document Typologies (CTD), a tool that became a key contribution of my thesis and helped shape my methodological approach to the management of restoration documentation. In conclusion, this work not only enriched my academic development but also connected me directly with the tangible complexity of heritage conservation, encouraging me to propose solutions that are both technically grounded and adaptable to real-world needs.

Jaione Korro
Universidad del Pais Vasco

This text may be considered as the first presentation of a phD, the results and conclusions of which can be found in the next one (https://doi.org/10.1145/3723455). Nevertheless, with the perspective of time my affection for this preliminary text grows, since I can find in it some powerful ideas and developments such as the conceptual model for conservation-restoration activities, the identification of the importance of the phases of the projects in document management, the catalogue of documentary typologies and so on. Ideas which, at that moment could seem elusive but that have gradually taken on definition.

Alvaro Rodriguez Miranda
Universidad del Pais Vasco

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Documentary data collection: an initial step for information management in the conservation and restoration of cultural heritage, Conservar Património, January 2023, Associacao Profissional de Conservadores-Restauradores de Portugal,
DOI: 10.14568/cp27370.
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