International Conference 2012 “Human Resources Development for the Transmission of Traditional Skills: Building Decoration with a Focus around Painting and Coloring” was successfully held from November 27-29 in Nara, Japan. This conference was jointly organized by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan (Bunkacho); the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO; National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Nara and Tokyo; and WHITRAP Shanghai in co-operation with the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property(ICCROM), the JAPAN ICOMOS National Committee, the Japanese Association for Conservation of Architectural Monuments (JACAM), Nara prefectural government and Nara municipality.

International Conference 2012 is the third and last in a series, which began in January 2011, with conferences held once each fiscal year over three years, under the general theme of “Human Resources Development for the Transmission of Traditional Skills”.

The first conference aimed at achieving a common understanding of the theme’s current status by presenting different national approaches and policy measures regarding the restoration of historic buildings. The sub-theme of the first conference was woodworking, and the practical aspects of repair work were discussed in detail. The second conference held in Shanghai took up the restoration of stone and brick as a sub-theme while deepening the discussion by taking a comprehensive view of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

At the last conference, this year, we took the restoration of decorations such as painting and coloring of the heritage building as a sub-theme. In addition, for the purpose of transmission of traditional skills and materials that are necessary for restoration of traditional heritage buildings, topics like how to develop conservation professionals with traditional skills and how to secure traditional materials for repair work were discussed at the conference.

As one of the main organizers, Professor Zhou Jian, the director of WHITRAP Shanghai, participated in the general discussion. Professor Dai Shibing from Architecture Conservation Laboratory，Tongji University made a keynote speech on the theme of “Traditional and modern coloring of stone inscription in China: an example from World Heritage Wuyishan, PR China”. WHITRAP Shanghai also carried on in-depth discussions with ACCU Nara about conference topics for the next three years.