IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

Museums and heritage institutions care for large and complex objects whose modes of display can challenge the conventional approaches of documentation and long-term conservation. Those displays are often visually prominent yet present access challenges and create tension between curatorial intent and conservation responsibility. While there is a well-established engineering-based monitoring in other sectors, its application in museums is frequently constrained by a lack of frameworks that align technical methods with conservation priorities. This paper proposes a heritage and museum-led framework to integrate selected engineering methods into museum practice while placing curatorial and conservation decision-making at the heart of the process. Instead of treating technical analysis as the starting point, the framework begins with interpretation objectives and conservation risk assessment to identify where focused engineering inputs can meaningfully support long-term collection care. The methods introduced are positioned as mediating tools, selected in response to museum-defined challenges rather than technical optimisation. The framework is explored through a case study of a suspended aircraft in a national museum housing a collection of macro aviation artefacts. Long-term structural monitoring and three-dimensional digital documentation were used to demonstrate how engineering-derived data can be translated to museum knowledge as an alternative to presenting definitive structural findings. Reframing the role of engineering methods within museum practice, not as tools for discrete conservation interventions, but as ongoing support for the care of objects on long-term display, whose condition must be investigated without removal from exhibition. Offering a transferable model for museums and supporting interdisciplinary collaboration while being grounded in heritage-led decision-making.