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Presentation

Conservation and Restoration

Cultural Heritage is one of the most important assets for any country, its protection and enhancement is one of the state's core tasks (Portuguese Constitution, Article 9). Conservation and Restoration is an activity that contributes the most to that purpose, minimizing the effects that promote degradation of our cultural heritage, allowing this legacy to be conveniently enjoyed in the present and passed on to future generations.

Conservation and Restoration is sustained by the application of theoretical, practical and experimental knowledge that result from the interaction of a set of scientific areas. Conservation and Restoration is a multidisciplinary field by its very nature.

The conservator plays a multi-layered array of technical and scientific functions, which aim at the preservation, conservation, restoration, protection and enhancement of cultural heritage, usually within a certain speciality. In addition of working directly in the treatment of cultural assets, the conservator also participates in research activities that have these same objectives.

Conservation and Restoration training at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar

The School of Technology of the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar currently offers a bachelor's degree and a master's course in Conservation and Restoration.

The bachelor’s degree has a three years lasting and aims to train conservators with wide-ranging knowledge in Conservation and Restoration, conferring the necessary skills for access the labour market or to engage in further studies, either at the master’s level or postgraduate training.

The two-year master course is intended to provide specific competences, sustained in theoretical and practical knowledge, providing expertise in a given area of intervention.

The two courses combined provide the training necessary to become a professional conservator-restorer, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers Organisations (ECCO) and the European Network for Education in Conservation and Restoration (EnCORE), of which IPT is a member. According to these organizations, a conservator-restorer should have higher education studies for at least five years full-time and these studies should integrate practical training.

It is the two courses policy to develop internships and dissertations in collaboration with the interested agents in the field of conservation and restoration. This collaboration has involved many national institutions and several foreign institutions, particularly in the European Union, taking advantage of programs that promote the mobility of teachers and students, such as the Erasmus program.

In order to strengthen the connection to practice and simultaneously promote the future integration of students in the labour market, extracurricular internships are encouraged during the school holidays, either in ESTT-IPT conservation and restoration laboratories or in other institutions. Furthermore, since the first academic year, regular attendance of conservation and restoration laboratories in free regime, with teacher supervision, is also encouraged during school terms and school holidays.

The history of conservation training in Tomar

1983: Creation of the bachelor’s degree in Art and Archaeology Techniques, which included restoration (Portaria n.º 861/83, de 29/8/1983)

1987: Creation of the Specialized Higher Studies course in Art and Archaeology  (Portaria n.º 866-87, de 7/11/1987), which in 1988 became the Specialized Higher Studies course in Art, Archaeology and Restoration (Portaria n.º 581-88, de 23/8/1988)

1989: Creation of the Bachelor course in Conservation and Restoration Technology (Portaria n.º 623/89, de 5/8/1989)

1990: Approval of the curricular plan for the Bachelor course in Conservation and Restoration Technology (Portaria n.º 343/90, de 7/5/1990)

1999: Creation of the two-cycle licentiate’s degree in Conservation and Restoration  (Portaria n.º 413-E/98, de 17/7/1998)

1999: Approval of the two-cycle licentiate’s degree in Conservation and Restoration (Portaria n.º 524/99, de 21/7/1999)

2005: Restructuring of the two-cycle licentiate’s degree in Conservation and Restoration (Portaria n.º 875/2005, de 29/8/2005)

2007: Adjustment of the licentiate’s degree in Conservation and Restoration to the Bologna system (Despacho n.º 2352/2007, de 14/2/2007)

2008: Approval of the curricular plan of the master course in Conservation and Restoration (Despacho n.º 11652/2008, 23/4/2008)

2011: Changes to the curricular plan of the master course in Conservation and Restoration (Despacho n.º 12166/2011, 15/9/2011)

2012: Changes to the curricular plan of the bachelor’s degree in Conservation and Restoration (Despacho n.º 10071/2012, 25/7/2012)

2016: Changes to the curricular plan of the master course in Conservation and Restoration (Despacho n.º 9982/2016, 5/8/2016)