Monitoring Objects and Visitors Environment (MOVE)

The aim of the MOVE project is to respond to the challenges of climate change and its implications for the care of collections and for energy management in museums in Egypt by providing an advanced tool for environmental monitoring..

Museums have an important part to play in safely housing and displaying our cultural heritage for current and future generations. As well as acting as a repository for priceless national treasures, they play an equally important educational role for people who come to view the collections, so need to offer a welcoming environment to attract visitors.
Climatically the two elements do not always align – with delicate artefacts and paintings requiring careful management of light and temperature for example, which may not be conducive to a visiting member of the public.
Key to the stewardship role is managing indoor conditions in the museum to prevent the deterioration of such vulnerable objects. Museums staff need to use preventive control measures to keep the indoor climate within conservation limits by maintaining environmental conditions within certain parameters and by minimising environmental fluctuations. Visitors and staff also demand certain levels of thermal comfort, access to natural light and good air quality so they can best experience these collections.
Such conflicting environmental requirements often require a degree of compromise, and managing these environmental demands will become ever more challenging for museums, as the impact of climate change leads to more extreme weather conditions. Where environmental control and management systems in museums fail to respond to adverse and unstable climatic conditions vulnerable artefacts will inevitably deteriorate, and so it is crucial that accurate sensitive monitoring of any variations becomes standard practice in all museums.
MOVE will develop an advanced tool for environmental monitoring in the form of an innovative digital dashboard for the partner museums.