This book arises from a European Commission 6th Framework Programme for Research project: ‘Global Climate Change Impacts on the Built Heritage and Cultural Landscape – The Noah’s Ark Project’. The work recognised that although climate change attracts wide interest at research and policy levels, little attention is paid to its impact on cultural heritage. In a period when enhanced regulation has improved European air quality, it seems important to explore how the threat of climate change to cultural heritage can become better recognised and perceived as relevant. As a non-renewable resource to be transmitted to future generations, cultural heritage includes the built heritage, artefacts inside buildings, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes.

Rather than examining the fate of individual monuments, the ‘Noah’s Ark Project’ took a strategic overview of the changing pressures on heritage.  The results can now be viewed on a wide geographical scale, presented here as a vulnerability atlas and accompanying guidelines. This atlas aims to fill the present gap in studies on the effects of future climate variations on cultural heritage, producing maps that link climate science to the potential damage to our material heritage.

The atlas gathers different types of maps and research outputs of future scenarios. Sections within the atlas include climate maps, displaying traditional climate parameters relevant to cultural heritage, and specific heritage climatologies; damage maps that quantitatively express the damage induced by climate parameters on building materials in future scenarios; risk and multiple-risk maps showing areas of increasing or decreasing risk across European regions; and thematic sections focusing on specific processes of damage that may arise from climate change. The atlas is also supported by key recommendations for policy-makers managing the impact of climate change on European heritage sites.

May Cassar is Professor of Sustainable Heritage at University College London and Director of the UK Science and Heritage Research Programme; she is also a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

Peter Brimblecombe is Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of East Anglia, an Associate Dean and a Senior Editor of the journal ‘Atmospheric Environment’.

Cristina Sabbioni is Research Director at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate within the Italian National Research Council.

Introduction; Part 1: Maps; Chapter 1: Climate Maps; Chapter 2: Heritage Climate Maps; Chapter 3: Damage Maps; Chapter 4: Risk Maps; Chapter 5: Thematic Pages; Part 2 : Guidelines; Chapter 6: Climate Change and Cultural Heritage; Chapter 7.1: Outdoor Stone and Brick 7.2: Wood 7.3: Metals; Chapter 8: Heritage Structures and Infrastructure; Chapter 9: Management Strategies; Chapter 10: Principles of Mitigation and Adaptation; Chapter 11: Research Orientations and Summary of Recommendations; Appendices; References