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The floods 2002 and their consequences
for the Institute of Archaeology in Prague
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12th August 2002
12.8.2002
10.9.2002
13.8.2004
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13th August, the day before…
13.8.2004
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14th August 2002, The Flood
Culmination point: Vltava engulfing Prague from the south
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14th August 2002, Culmination point
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Wallenstein GardenInstitute of Archaeology
Vltava river flooded area
Malá Strana from the air
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16th August 2002: the disaster
The Letenská street
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16th August 2002: the disaster
The main yard
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16th August 2002: the disaster
The store rooms: publications of the InstituteThe library: 70.000 of books
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16th August 2002: the disaster
The photoarchives: 200.000 of negatives and slides
Archives of field documentation: 10.000 of maps and plans
Was there any flood at all?
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17th August 2002 and so forth
Clearing, removing, discarding…
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17th August 2002 and so forth
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17th August 2002 and so forth
Washing and drying: books
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17th August 2002 and so forth
Index cards
Field maps and plans
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17th August 2002 and so forth
finds
laboratory equipment
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17th August 2002 and so forth
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The message
What is important, or: From pesimism and fatigue to optimism and solidarity
organization of spaceis important
and you should keep everything tidy
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The message
You see that people are doing their best(up to 80 staff members and volunteers were workingin the Institute every day)
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The message
and thanks to help of renown scholars
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The message
optimism prevails
supported by enormous solidarity
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How to save it?
The field base KouniceÚstav archeologické památkové péče středních Čech
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How to save it?
Mochovské mrazírny, Kladno Deep frozen books: 35 tons of water
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How to save it?
The journey to the Kingdom of Denmark
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How to save it?
Konserveringstjenesten for museerne i Ribe og Rindkobing amter
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How to save it?
Freeze-dried books at Olgod and Elmer Fabech
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How to save it?
The archives included: cca 12,000 field plans, site maps and photogrammetric plans, half of which had been transferred to microfiches in 1990s
Flooded: cca 50%
Lost: cca 10%Immediately washed and disinfected: 10%Deep frozen: 30%
Microfiches saved completely!
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How to save it?
Photoarchive consisted of:
180,000 negatives (incl. 20,000 on glass)20,000 of slides (incl. 10,000 on glass)Inventory booksTwo card catalogues (cca 400,000 A5 paper cards)
Flooded: more than 80% of allLost and/or seriously damaged: over 50%
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How to save it?
The Department of Prague Castle Archaeology
Washing and disinfection of negatives
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How to save it?
Landesamt für Archäologie des Freistaates Sachsen, Dresden
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The aim of all activities: to gain time for the revitalisation of archaeological data