37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 1009MONITORING HERITAGE SYSTEMMarian Chiriac, Carlos J. Prieto, Jesús O. CastilloDepartment of HeritageFundación Santa María la Real, Aguilar de Campooe-mail: mchiriac@santamarialareal.orgKey words: heritage, monitoring system, conservationAbstractThe paper will focus on the monitoring system that constitutes an integral part of theMonitoring Heritage System Project (MHS) developed by the Santa Maria la Real Foundation(FSMLR). This project falls under the heading of preventive conservation which aims toprevent deterioration and alterations in heritage buildings, works of art and furnishings.What gives this project its innovative edge is that it aims to change the focus of heritagerestoration by taking advantage of new technologies. The current trend in cultural heritagerestoration is corrective maintenance which is based on intervention once deterioration hasbeen identified. Many times due to the advanced state of deterioration, it is impossible torestore the pieces because of irreparable damage and loss is inevitable.The MHS system is integral, modular and configurable and has been created to monitor inreal time a series of environmental, structural and security conditions. Its objective is toimprove the conservation of cultural heritage buildings and the artwork housed within.This paper will describe the problems and solutions the Santa Maria la Real Foundation hasencountered while monitoring various heritage sites in Spain and it will raise the issue of theneed for new fields of investigation within the area of preventive conservation.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 340