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PCP Forum no. 13/2008 – PCP Inventory

Serie	PCP Forum
Edition	13
Year	2008
Editor	Federal Office for Civil Protection (FOCP)
Location	3003 Bern

An inventory is a management instrument that is used everywhere and in every way, and has become an integral part of modern life. It is part and parcel of a company’s year-end accounts. It serves to audit an ecological system or to document bequests. Archives and museums also use inventories as a search tool. However, an inventory is much more than a management instrument. One of its most important purposes ¬– especially a cultural property protection inventory – is to awaken interest in conservation. On the one hand, this happens because a value is placed on objects, buildings and collections by dint of the process of identification and publication. On the other, it is achieved through the analysis of the importance attributed to cultural property. This involves providing comparable and standardised descriptions of the history and character of each individual entry, which in turn makes it possible to measure their conservation value.