Extending the life-span of cultural heritage structures

Abstract

Monuments and historic buildings represent our historic heritage, the witnesses of the history that have arrived up to our age. We have inherited them from the previous generations, and it is our duty to preserve and to transfer them to the future generations. Therefore, we must preserve our cultural heritage from the natural ageing and the natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes. This can be done by means of a continuous monitoring and periodic controls, using non-destructive techniques. The recent applications of structural health monitoring to cultural heritage structures are introduced in this paper. They present some interesting cases, which are examples of good practise for the future.