The floods 2002 and their consequences

for the Institute of Archaeology in Prague

12th August 2002

12.8.2002

10.9.2002

13.8.2004

13th August, the day before…

13.8.2004

14th August 2002, The Flood

Culmination point: Vltava engulfing Prague from the south

14th August 2002, Culmination point

Wallenstein GardenInstitute of Archaeology

Vltava river flooded area

Malá Strana from the air

16th August 2002: the disaster

The Letenská street

16th August 2002: the disaster

The main yard

16th August 2002: the disaster

The store rooms: publications of the InstituteThe library: 70.000 of books

16th August 2002: the disaster

The photoarchives: 200.000 of negatives and slides

Archives of field documentation: 10.000 of maps and plans

Was there any flood at all?

17th August 2002 and so forth

Clearing, removing, discarding…

17th August 2002 and so forth

17th August 2002 and so forth

Washing and drying: books

17th August 2002 and so forth

Index cards

Field maps and plans

17th August 2002 and so forth

finds

laboratory equipment

17th August 2002 and so forth

The message

What is important, or: From pesimism and fatigue to optimism and solidarity

organization of spaceis important

and you should keep everything tidy

The message

You see that people are doing their best(up to 80 staff members and volunteers were workingin the Institute every day)

The message

and thanks to help of renown scholars

The message

optimism prevails

supported by enormous solidarity

How to save it

How to save it?

The field base KouniceÚstav archeologické památkové péče středních Čech

How to save it?

Mochovské mrazírny, Kladno Deep frozen books: 35 tons of water

How to save it?

The journey to the Kingdom of Denmark

How to save it?

Konserveringstjenesten for museerne i Ribe og Rindkobing amter

How to save it?

Freeze-dried books at Olgod and Elmer Fabech

How to save it?

The archives included: cca 12,000 field plans, site maps and photogrammetric plans, half of which had been transferred to microfiches in 1990s

Flooded: cca 50%

Lost: cca 10%Immediately washed and disinfected: 10%Deep frozen: 30%

Microfiches saved completely!

How to save it?

Photoarchive consisted of:

180,000 negatives (incl. 20,000 on glass)20,000 of slides (incl. 10,000 on glass)Inventory booksTwo card catalogues (cca 400,000 A5 paper cards)

Flooded: more than 80% of allLost and/or seriously damaged: over 50%

How to save it?

The Department of Prague Castle Archaeology

Washing and disinfection of negatives

How to save it?

Landesamt für Archäologie des Freistaates Sachsen, Dresden

The aim of all activities: to gain time for the revitalisation of archaeological data