You Can Be Anything › All careers › Museum, Heritage & Cultural Preservation
Heritage Conservation Officer
Protects historical buildings, monuments, and cultural sites from damage and decay.
Did you know?
A 2012 Chinese government survey found that about 22% of the Ming-era Great Wall, nearly 2,000 km, has disappeared.
How subjects help
- History: Find out how an old building was made and what it meant to the town.
- Art & Design: Make sure repairs match the original stone, colours and carvings.
- Law: Use protection rules to stop a historic site being knocked down or spoiled.
- Biology: Treat damage from damp, mould, insects and plants growing into old walls.
A famous name
Prosper Mérimée: As France's Inspector-General of Historical Monuments from 1833, he protected sites like Carcassonne.
Try it yourself: Write a museum label for an old object
- Choose the object and look at it closely: what is it made of, and what marks of use does it have?
- Ask an older family member what they remember about it, or about things like it.
- Write a short museum label: what it is, roughly when it is from, who used it, and why it matters.
- Keep it under 50 words. What did you have to leave out?
Curators and archivists research objects, check facts, and tell their stories in very few words.
Also try: Build dig layers in a tub.
Known for it in
Italy, UK, France, Egypt, Japan