New integrated knowledge based approaches to the protection of cultural heritage from earthquake-induced risk

Potential damages on Cultural Heritage (CH) assets are currently too high, mostly due to their intrinsic vulnerability, and to the fact that most of the technologies applied to date are too intrusive, cost-inefficient, and often unreliable and/or non-effective. As so, the need to develop proper strategies to mitigate the risk associated with seismic vulnerability is unquestionable. The Commission of the European Communities has recently funded a research project, Niker, which aims at developing an integrated methodology for the systemic improvement of the seismic behavior of CH assets and thus improving the general safety level and reducing the loss of artistic value. The Niker project involves eighteen partners coming from twelve different countries, among which there are universities, research centres, governmental agencies and small and medium enterprises. In the present contribution, an overview of the main objectives and steps of the project is given.