In many cases, the substance of historical writings, documents and books in archives and libraries is acutely endangered by acid corrosion, moisture and mold. As part of the special program for the preservation of written cultural assets, your activities for the preservation of written material are financially supported.

You can receive funding of between EUR 5,000 and EUR 200,000 if

• you are planning an individual, definable project,
• as part of the project, you would like to carry out a quantity procedure for deacidification, packaging, dry cleaning or restoration of writings, documents or books or record damage to them,
• the substance of the writings is acutely endangered,
• the documents are actively used, e.g. for scientific research, educational purposes or to establish legal certainty, and
• the original documents are of historical or scientific importance. These include
  • Holdings of high cultural and historical value,
  • deposit copies,
  • closed collections,
  • special collections,
  • special collections,
  • Holdings of supra-regional importance,
  • holdings with high utilization and high multi-perspective or comparative evaluation potential,
  • valuable unique works and rare books with intrinsic value and
  • holdings that are indispensable for safeguarding teaching, research and administration in the long term.

You will not receive funding for

• Projects for the conservation of graphic artworks and paintings as well as other works of fine art.
• Projects that have already been started or completed before you submit your application.
• Projects for which you have already submitted a funding application for other federal programs with the same funding purpose.
• Quantitative procedures that cannot be assigned to a definable project.

The decision to fund your project will be based on the following criteria:

• Endangerment of the written cultural heritage
• historical or scientific significance of the written cultural heritage
• Use of the written cultural heritage

The amount of funding for your project depends on the type of funding your institution receives:

• fully federally funded institution: up to 100 percent of eligible project costs
• All other institutions: up to 50 percent of the eligible project costs

Eligible costs are

• all costs incurred in the implementation of your project,
• expenditure for external services,
• project-related personnel costs (no permanent staff),
• expenditure on working materials and consumables or public relations work that can be directly allocated to the project.

Costs that are not eligible for funding are

• Expenditure on permanent staff,
• investments,
• expenditure for permanent exhibitions or measures to be carried out regularly,
• expenditure for necessary structural and technical measures,
• the procurement of work equipment or
• expenditure for measures to maintain the operational functionality of your institution, such as magazine cleaning.

After approval, you can request funding for the costs incurred from the Coordination Office for the Preservation of the Written Cultural Heritage (KEK) in accordance with the details in the grant notification. The funds will then be paid out to you during the project period so that the costs incurred can be paid directly from the funding.

You submit your funding application to the state ministry responsible for you. After a positive review, the ministry will forward the application to the Coordination Office for the Preservation of Written Cultural Heritage (KEK) for further processing. The CEC's advisory board makes a recommendation on projects eligible for funding and the final funding decision is made by the BKM. The CEC is responsible for processing and reviewing the project and the project report to be submitted at the end of the project.

You have no claim to the approval of the funding.