Building the Knowledge Base for Cultural Heritage Risk Assessment: The Case of the Arian Baptistry, Ravenna (Italy)

Effective cultural heritage risk assessment demands integration of technical, social, and governance factors. This study demonstrates that disaster risk assessment (DRA) for the Arian Baptistery in Ravenna—part of UNESCO’s Early Christian Monuments—requires harmonization across disciplines to address conceptual inconsistencies. By combining ICCROM’s ABC Method with IPCC/UNDRR models and QuiskScan, researchers developed a five-step framework: context analysis, stakeholder mapping, value assessment, terminological alignment, and risk systematization. A key innovation is the hybrid hazard framework, which expands 'dissociation' to include governance failures and socio-political risks, bridging ICCROM’s Ten Agents of Deterioration with UNDRR 2025 hazards. The Arian Baptistery serves as a methodological laboratory, offering a replicable model for knowledge organization and terminology harmonization in heritage risk management.

Fiorentino, S., Casarotto, A., Falbo, I., & Vandini, M. (2026). Building the Knowledge Base for Cultural Heritage Risk Assessment: The Case of the Arian Baptistry, Ravenna (Italy). Heritage, 9(3), 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage9030111