This initiative is an outgrowth of the IAA’s role in safeguarding the cultural assets and built heritage in Israel. The IAA will act to strengthen the status of the Conservation Department as the leading professional body that acts to formulate expert standards and to promote supervision of the conservation processes, professional training and the assimilation of conservation education.

The Conservation Department will advance the preservation of the cultural heritage in Israel from a national point of view that encompasses the totality of its values. This heritage is a mosaic of cultures that have existed in the region from the dawn of humanity until the present. It is shared by many communities and therefore a high degree of sensitivity is required in the treatment of it.

The Conservation Department will formulate a policy for the treatment of the cultural heritage assets in Israel basing it on the Antiquities Law, professional ethics and the accepted conservation principles in the world. This policy will make it possible to direct the bodies that are involved in conservation activity in Israel – public authorities, site managers, researchers, documenters, planners, conservators and educators – in assimilating a high degree of professional standards.

The Conservation Department manifests the IAA’s obligation to establish a body that will lead the way in the field of conservation in Israel, as an integral part of the responsibility of the state to the cultural heritage in its territory.