Summer School 2019

CIPA-ICOMOS Philippines Photogrammetry Field School

By: Tina Paterno (info@icomosphilippines.com) & Andreas Georgopoulos (drag@central.ntua.gr)

In September 2019, CIPA, ICOMOS Philippines, and the CIPA-HD through the Lab of Photogrammetry of National Technical University of Athens have collaborated on a field school in the historic town of Intramuros, Manila, Philippines.

CIPA-HD extended assistance to the ICOMOS Philippine national committee, as they expressed the need for high-skill but low-cost methods of documentation of historic structures and archaeological sites. The Philippines is a country of 7,100 islands, with a very young preservation practice, and with the skill of documentation in the hands of a few professionals. The aim was to democratise the skill and enable a broader segment of practitioners, both geographically and professionally, to learn this skill.

CIPA-HD, i.e. its President, Prof. Andreas Georgopoulos, and Ms Margarita Skamantzari, MSc, taught the class using free software to a total of 30 students (archaeologists, architects, disaster risk mappers, cultural mappers, environmentalists, conservators, tour guides and heritage and museum workers) from provinces of Batanes, Sagada, Bohol, Manila, Batangas, Pampanga and Cebu, and Singapore. Most of them were learning photogrammetry for the first time. Five local teacher trainers were given a full-day’s pre-training to facilitate the class before the field school

There were fifteen full-time scholars, made possible by grants from the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, and MetroBank Foundation, Inc. and Intramuros Administration.

The class has stayed in touch on a chat group, and is continuing to share stories of their work and planning a work reunion to donate their documentation services to a worthy site.