SUM – Save the Ukraine Monuments
ЗПУ – Збережемо пам’ятники України

Flag of Europe Flag of Ukraine

Besides the inacceptable losses of human lives and the distress of the population causing millions of refugees, the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops and the ongoing war put at risk the cultural heritage of this country. They may irreparably destroy monuments, artworks, remnants of the past, and with them cancel the history and identity of the Ukrainians. Out of solidarity with Ukraine, immediately after the invasion 4CH launched an initiative titled SUM – Save the Ukraine Monuments to save the digital documentation of Ukrainian cultural heritage, to preserve its memory and support the future restoration of assets from the damages caused by the war. The initiative has been approved by the EU Commission and is carried out with the collaboration, the endorsement and the support of other EU cultural institutions and organizations. SUM consists in duplicating the digital documentation, such as texts, images and 3D models, of Ukrainian heritage on safe servers placed in the EU with a secure procedure. Terabytes of data have already been transferred and more are in the queue. SUM is in contact with Ukrainian heritage institutions, professionals and companies: among the many difficulties of wartime, they are uploading to our servers this precious digital content, to be returned intact to them when – hopefully soon – peace and justice will be re-established in all of Ukraine.

Крім неприпустимих людських втрат та страждань населення, які спричиняють мільйони біженців, вторгнення російських військ в Україну та війна, що триває, поставили під загрозу культурну спадщину цієї країни. Вони можуть непоправно знищити пам’ятники, твори мистецтва, пережитки минулого, а разом з ними зруйнувати історію та самобутність українців. На знак солідарності з Україною одразу після вторгнення 4CH розпочав ініціативу ЗПУ – Збережемо пам’ятники України, щоб зберегти цифрову документацію про українську культурну спадщину, зберегти її пам’ять та підтримати майбутнє відновлення майна від пошкоджень, завданих війною. Ініціатива була схвалена Комісією ЄС і здійснюється за колаборації, схвалення та підтримки інших культурних установ та організацій ЄС. ЗПУ полягає у тиражуванні цифрової документації, такої як тексти, зображення та 3D-моделі, української спадщини на безпечних серверах, розміщених в ЄС за захищеною процедурою. Терабайти даних уже передані, ще багато в черзі. ЗПУ підтримує зв’язок з інституціями української спадщини, професіоналами та компаніями: під час багатьох труднощів воєнного часу вони завантажують на наші сервери цей дорогоцінний цифровий контент, щоб повернути його собі, коли справедливість буде відновлена по всій Україні.

The 4CH Project

4CH starts on the 1st January 2021 for a duration of three years. The project aims to
set up the methodological, procedural, and organizational framework of a Competence Centre able to seamlessly work with a network of national, regional, and local Cultural Institutions, providing them with advice, support, and services focused on the preservation and conservation of historical monuments and sites.

What is a Competence Centre

The term Competence Centre is used in different contexts to describe an infrastructure dedicated to knowledge organization and transfer, and may have different meanings according to focus area, scope, domain, and socio-economic framework, with different objectives, organisation, and operational mode. See how 4CH interprets this concept for cultural heritage.

Why 4CH?

Why is 4CH necessary? How will it design the Competence Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage? You can find here an explanation of how it will proceed and how users will be involved in the process.

Resources and activities

EU documents, 4CH reports and documentation and other reference material concerning the digitization of cultural heritage, the use of 3D technology, standards and best practices, documents on policies and strategies, guidelines and training material.

Consortium

The Consortium in charge of the 4CH project includes leading institutions from the academia, industry, SMEs and research centres with complementary expertise and a wide geographic coverage of Europe. The Consortium is open to cooperation with heritage agencies and ministries, research centres and SMEs willing to pursue cultural heritage conservation, preservation and valorisation through digital technologies.

Project Objectives

Aims regarding digitization for conservation and preservation, supporting collaboration and best practices and the future sustainability of 4CH.

What 4CH will do

Services and tools to enable preservation and conservation using the latest, most effective technologies.

4CH end users

The target user community for 4CH which ranges from large institutions to individuals and covers many different but related activities.

4CH approach

How 4CH will engage its stakeholders and work together to design a CC structure that will meet the needs of cultural heritage.

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is a consultative body formed by high-level experts representing cultural institutions, heritage agencies and ministries, international organizations, professional associations or having special expertise on key technologies.

News

  • CARARE Annual Meeting image

CARARE Annual Meeting 2023

September 21, 2023|

The CARARE Annual Meeting, Cultural Heritage in 3D, will be held on the 12th-13th October in Den Haag and on Zoom. The 4CH project features in Session 3, Training and capacity building. Programme 12th October   (14.00 [...]

  • EuropeanaTech 2023 image

EuropeanaTech Conference October 2023

September 21, 2023|

The annual EuropeanaTech Conference will be held in the Hague, NL from 10th-12th October with all three days open to onsite participants in the Hague, and two open to follow online. Focussing on ‘Engage, explore [...]

  • Image and logo for EAA 2024 Conference

EAA 2024 Call for Sessions open

September 19, 2023|

The annual conference of the European Association of Archaeologists, EAA 2024, will take place in Rome from the 28th-31st August 2024. The Call for Sessions opened on the 18th September and the chosen conference themes [...]