The Sino-Italian Conservation Training Center in Beijing

In the twentieth century, Italy earned great respect in the international arena thanks to her prowess in relation to cultural heritage conservation and restoration issues. Indeed, when the Second World War was over, many countries across the globe requested the advice and expertise of Italian specialists in this field. Two important Italian scientific institutions – Cesare Brandi’s Istituto Centrale per il Restauro and the Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente – IsMEO (with Giuseppe Tucci) – engaged in numerous restoration interventions which took place outside Italy. At the end of the 1980s, China formally requested Italy’s collaboration to assist in the modernization of methodologies used during conservation and restoration interventions conducted on her territory. Consequently, the Directorate-General of the Development Cooperation, an armof the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, entrusted the Istituto Italiano per ilMedio ed EstremoOriente with the task of creating at Xi’an – a city by now world-famous for the discovery there o the Emperor Qin Qihangdi’s extraordinary Terracotta Army – the First modern Restoration Center in the country. Following this, in Beijing, the Sino-Italian Conservation Training Center was established. This specialized institution has succeeded in training, over a period of seven years, almost 700 conservators restorers who are now working in museums across China. The present volume recounts the history of this exceptional initiative: an initiative which has resulted in the development of lasting scientific ties with China, following, indeed, in the footsteps of the illustrious Matteo Ricci.