Preventive conservation - a sustainable approach to cultural heritage preservation

Since the last decades of the 20(th) century preventive conservation has been developing as a sustainable and integrated strategy for the conservation of collections (museological, documental, photographical) and buildings. It is based on the principle of minimizing the causes of degradation and potential risks, avoiding major restoration interventions. The methodology of a preventive conservation plan privileges the creation of precise conservation assessments in order to identify the factors that may affect the preservation of the collections and the buildings. Dedicated to the preservation of Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) memory and research, the Casa de Oswaldo Cruz (COC) has been developing a project to implement preventive conservation plans for the cultural heritage under its responsibility. The objective of this article is to present a brief history of preventive conservation, relating the COC actions in the context of the Brazilian scene.