How does climate change affect cultural heritage?

Climate change not only threatens nature and the economy, but also threatens to permanently alter or destroy cultural heritage, which bears witness to the identity and history of entire nations.

The effects of global warming, extreme temperatures, increasingly frequent droughts and floods are part of the climate change that is damaging cultural heritage around the world. This topic was also discussed in Trstenik at a lecture organized by the Homeland Museum, where the lecturer was Bojan Brankovic, M.Sc. in natural sciences, who explained which of those changes were most affecting monuments and cultural heritage:

– Primarily, there is the shift of the coastline due to the rise in sea level, which is due to the melting of glaciers. And that is why there has been the submersion of coastal parts of archaeological sites, cultural heritage, but also cities that are of great cultural importance. We have the example of the well-known sinking Venice. In Europe, we can also single out Nyborg Castle, Denmark, and within the Westminster complex, Victoria Tower. These are some very important places that are found on the Europa Nostra website, which recognizes these sites as the most endangered in a material sense, namely by climate change and climate extremes.

He adds that we are affected like the whole of Europe, and that everything depends on the region in question.

– So, in Belgrade we have the General Staff buildings that are under the influence of atmospheric factors, that is, precipitation, both snow and rain, but also extreme droughts that we record during the summer, which we did not have in previous years. We can also single out the Ljubostinja Monastery as a cultural asset in our district, in the Municipality of Trstenik – says Bojan Brankovic.

When asked whether this problem is sufficiently recognized both in Europe and here, and what the solutions are, Bojan Brankovic answers:

– Digitalization is certainly one of the future solutions, a form of preservation, preserving the memory of these sites. What we need to do, as individuals, but also from a scientific and state perspective, is to adopt certain programs and plans, conduct certain research, both field and laboratory, on how best to approach solving this problem.

Climate change is a silent threat, but the consequences can be far-reaching. Cultural heritage is the identity of a people and if we do not protect it in time, we may not have anything to leave to future generations.

Bojan Branković

climate change

cultural heritage