Marking fifty years of the Master of Conservation of Monuments and Sites at KU Leuven, this lecture series reflects on conservation as a global, future-oriented practice. Across six sessions, the programme moves from iconic repair and building archaeology to people and values, from international responsibility and governance to risk, resilience, documentation, craft and practice-based methodology.
The series is grounded in a clear proposition: conservation is a future-making discipline, rooted in the careful reading of buildings, materials, sites and traces, and extended through shared responsibility for
communities, landscapes and built environments in transition. It brings together material knowledge, critical reflection and situated practice to address the ecological, social and cultural questions that shape
the field today.
Drawing on the international networks of RLICC, ICOMOS, the PRECOM 3 OS UNESCO Chair, and the Suzanne Generet Chair, the lecture series opens a dialogue between academic research, professional practice, policy frameworks and civic engagement. These networks situate the MCMS within a wider culture of conservation, where knowledge is exchanged across geographies, disciplines, generations and institutional contexts.
By bringing together different voices, places and practices, the series invites students, alumni, researchers, practitioners and partners to reflect on how conservation knowledge travels and transforms. It asks how the field can continue to read the existing built environment with precision, to care with communities and to design resilient futures through shared responsibility.
From Fabric to Futures, the series positions conservation as a discipline of reading, caring and designing with the already built and with who is already there.
19.11.2026
"The Restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris"
Lecture by Philippe Villeneuve
Hosted by Prof. Teresa Patricio
Location:
Aula Arenberg Castle 432.01.07 at 18:30
Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 , 3001 Heverlee
26.11.2026
"The Restoration of Disability in Architecture"
Lecture by David Gissen
Hosted by Prof. Gisèle Gantois
Location:
Aula Tweede Hoofdwet 337.01.02
Kasteelpark Arenberg 41 , 3001 Heverlee
Registration is mandatory! Register here for the first two lectures in November.