Preservation of Cultural Heritage: The Nexus of Diagnosis-Prevention-Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Cultural heritage nowadays is constantly under threat from climate change and natural disasters, urbanization, neglect, and other human activities including vandalism, previous incompatible conservation interventions, and armed conflicts. To ensure the preservation of cultural heritage, a comprehensive approach that can face all of the above challenges in a structured and reliable framework is important to include the processes of diagnosis, prevention, and sustainability.

Diagnosis is the first step for the effective preservation of cultural heritage. It involves the assessment and documentation of cultural heritage assets, identifying authentic materials, decay products, damage patterns, and geometry, and understanding the factors that contribute to their deterioration. Advanced technologies such as non-destructive and remote sensing techniques have revolutionized the field, allowing for in situ accurate data collection and analysis, limited sampling, and enhanced capabilities of data interpretation. Diagnosis results lead to the prioritization of targeted conservation interventions and efficient allocation of resources.

Prevention involves implementing proactive measures such as regular monitoring, periodic reassessment of conservation strategies, risk management and the development of risk‐based models, and establishment of protective buffers around sites, aiming to minimize future degradation of the cultural heritage assets under investigation.

Finally, sustainability is of great importance in ensuring the long-term presence of cultural heritage. Sustainability practices consider environmental impacts, supporting the use of new eco-friendly and compatible conservation materials as well as green, energy-efficient systems. However, sustainability goes beyond conservation and involves attempting to integrate cultural heritage into the fabric of society. Thus, it aims to incorporate preservation practices into land planning and tourism management for socio-economic development and growth.

In conclusion, this Special Issue aims to investigate the preservation of cultural heritage through a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses diagnosis, prevention, and sustainability, examining boundaries and interrelations among these processes, as well as suggesting innovative and realistic strategies.

Prof. Dr. Antonia Moropoulou
Dr. Elisabetta Zendri
Prof. Dr. Michael Turner
Dr. Ekaterini Delegou
Guest Editors

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• diagnostic study and decay diagnosis
• preventive conservation
• sustainable development
• remote sensing
• non-destructive testing
• 3D modeling
• GIS
• conservation strategies
• eco-friendly materials
• energy-efficient materials