Hammamet – Tunisia, 2005

9^th Conference: Lessons learned: Reflecting on the theory and practice of mosaic conservation.

The 9^th International Conference was held at Hammamet in November 2005, at the invitation of Tunisian Board Member Dr Aicha Ben Abed on behalf of the Institut National du Patrimoine. The conference was organized by ICCM, the Institut National du Patrimoine with the assistance of the Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), and the support of ICCROM and the University of Cyprus. This was the largest conference held so far, with nearly 300 participants from 30 countries. About 47 conservation professionals from the Arab-speaking world as well as Turkey were invited to attend, thanks to a generous grant from the Getty Foundation. The theme of the conference was: Lessons learned: Reflecting on the theory and practice of mosaic conservation.

After almost 30 years since the founding of ICCM, it was thought appropriate to reflect on past experiences and lessons in the field of mosaic conservation and to draw conclusions on what has been accomplished so far; as well as to define the future needs and directions of the field. Two recommendations were approved at the end of the conference and a new Board was elected. The proceedings of the conference will be published during 2007 by the GCI.

The following reviews of the 9^th ICCM Conference have been published:

Neil Cookson, “Speaking of Conservation. The Ninth ICCM Conference, November 29-December 3, 2005, Hammamet, Tunisia”, MOSAIC the journal of ASPROM, 33, 2006, pp. 29-32.

Thomas Roby, “Lessons Learned. A report on the 2005 ICCM Conference”, Conservation. The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter, 21:1, 2006, pp. 20-23.

Pat Witts, “Mosaics Conferences 2005: Conservation and fresh discoveries”, Minerva 17:4, 2006, pp. 38-40.