IHC.digital, in collaboration with CAST, ETH Zurich, Leica Geosystems, and other institutional partners, is the IHC’s research department aiming to create and promote applications for the use of 3D documentation for universally applicable digital heritage management.

To achieve this, IHC.digital offers summer field schools with on-site hands-on training in digital heritage management methods, employing state of the art technology and world-class instruction.

IHC.digital has already successfully completed 3D mapping and documentation of the ancient site of Eleusis.

The success of the Eleusis project lead to the Municipality of Nafplion, the modern Greek state’s first capital, to invite the IHC to document its historic city center and its most significant historical structures – an invitation which IHC.digital enthusiastically accepted, running its first Nafplion field school in 2013, its second in 2014, and continuing with its third field school for summer 2015 with the Digital Historic Nafplion Project. 

IHC.public is the public archaeology (or community archaeology) department of the IHC.  IHC.public research projects seek to incorporate as closely as possible local knowledge in the management and presentation of public heritage. The vision of public heritage as a common resource leads to the development of archaeological and ethnographic tools, groups and techniques. Archaeologists and ethnographers thus act as interlocutors, not only of archaeological management, but also of other resources in a local community. They help locals understand the potential of their site and connect them with resources and networks.  IHC.public, through its projects, aims to energize local institutions and social groups, in order to participate more actively in the civic life of local communities and their areas in general. Finally, employing archaeological law to the benefit of a local community, public archaeology aims to plan ahead for sustainable local development.

In this context, public archaeology becomes an intervention that is not restricted to ancient artifacts, but also to the current state of a place and its inhabitants.  Archaeology and ethnography may be seen as common resources for the local community and off-site stakeholders to negotiate forms of sustainable development for the area at large. Through the actions of public, or community archaeology, forms of communal decision making are developed that lead to increased participation in communal affairs at large and the strengthening of participation in existing community bodies.

Finally, archaeologists and ethnographers bring to the community their own resources, knowledge, skills and connections, in order to enable the community to reach larger audiences and chart sustainable futures.  Through open-ended interviews, focus groups and participant observation, researchers seek to open the archaeological procedure transforming it into a “knowledge of place” that is community-produced and controlled. Both the methodology and the research procedure are constantly presented, discussed and modified to local demands and ethical claims.

The vision of IHC.Legal is to create an appreciable improvement in heritage management worldwide, through wider implementation of international treaties.

The work of IHC.Legal has so far focused on the publication of Cultural Property Law and Restitution: A Commentary to International Conventions and European Union Law, by Irini A. Stamatoudi. The book discusses international cultural property law and the restitution of cultural property. It is an in-depth guide to understanding the major international conventions relating to cultural property, as well as the background theories relating to the ownership of cultural property.

The IHC has ambitious goals for the future. Starting with an online database of conventions relating to cultural property, the IHC hopes to make informations about these conventions easily available and understandable. With the information in the database, heritage managers worldwide may more easily understand their rights and responsibilities under conventions that their countries are signatories to, and begin or further their compliance with these conventions.

As well as providing guidance, through the database to individual heritage managers, IHC.Legal intends to, wherever possible, lobby and advise countries themselves regarding which cultural property conventions and treaties to become signatory to, and how to implement them in national legislation.

By increasing the number of signatory states to cultural property conventions, and increasing the knowledge of heritage managers withing those states, IHC.Legal hopes to improve the standards of conservation of cultural property worldwide. Additionally, it is the hope of IHC.Legal that through these treaties looted antiquities may be returned to their source countries, as appropriate, and future looting may be discouraged.

Preventive and continuous conservation are critical to long-term protection of heritage sites. In 2012 at the Acropolis museum, the IHC together with ICCROM, the intergovernmental organization on the protection of monuments, and the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI) hosted an international think tank conference on the effects of climate change on heritage sites, followed by a public exhibition on the topic. In 2013-4 the IHC launched its first seminars on assessing the impact of climate change on monuments. The IHC also plans workshops on climate change in Rome and Hong Kong.

Recognizing its work in this area, the Greek National Committee on Climate Change appointed the IHC as its heritage advisor. The IHC continues to explore the ways in which conservation and continuous preservation are essential to slowing the process of deterioration of heritage sites and trains experts on various facets of site preservation.

The department of educational programs of the IHC, IHC.education, organizes unique educational programs for adults and school children of all ages.

IHC.education’s programs include a variety of creative and recreational activities such as crafts, construction, theater games, dance, exposure to the English language, and experiential games that enable a child to come into contact with culture, the environment, and the emergence of their aesthetic / creative expression. These creative activities are among the best means of learning, and help to develop all aspects of a child’s personality (physical, emotional, cognitive) while simultaneously having fun. In this fun and interactive way, the process of learning unfolds. These activities are adapted according to the needs of each module and the respective ages of the children.

objectives of the educational courses

• cognitive: comprehensive understanding of the topic addressed in the educational program
• cooperative: working in teams, developing partnerships, respect for different opinions
• social: connecting school to everyday life, cultivating a sense of responsibility
• stages of life: development of critical thinking, creativity and value codes ​​towards nature and society