Restoration Day: How cultural heritage is preserved
News from 10/02/2026
On 18 October 2026, conservators will open their studios and offer an insight into their work. To mark the 9th European Day of Conservation, a varied programme will provide an opportunity to learn about cultural heritage and its preservation at first hand.
Under the theme ‘Up close’, the focus is on the people and techniques that contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage. Guided tours of exhibitions and restoration workshops offer new perspectives on the objects, their history, materials and craftsmanship.
“The preservation of cultural heritage is a core task of the SPK – our conservators bear key responsibility in this regard,” says SPK President Marion Ackermann.
At the Gemäldegalerie, conservators talk about the preparations for the special exhibition ‘Portraits!’ and the restoration of Filippo Lippi’s ‘The Adoration in the Woods’. A rediscovered historical frame offers an insight into frame restoration. At theHamburger Bahnhof – National Gallery of Contemporary Art, a behind-the-scenes tour explores the unique challenges of preserving contemporary art – from crumbling plastic and fluorescent lamps to foodstuffs and video tapes.
The Kupferstichkabinett traces marks on paper: what do they reveal about the paper’s manufacture, age and use? The Berlin State Library demonstrates, amongst other things, how wartime leaflets from the Second World War are conserved.
At theMuseum of Musical Instruments, the focus is on working with more than 800 plucked string instruments. The Museum of the Ancient Near East is dedicated to metal objects, whilst the Collection ofClassical Antiquities focuses on ceramics. Guided tours at theHumboldt Forum shed light on the restoration of a lacquered cabinet from the Qing Dynasty, a ceremonial pipe of the Omaha (Umoⁿhoⁿ) people from Nebraska, and totem poles from Canada’s North-West Coast.