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editoria
Paradox of Choice
e-conservation
Conservation is, above all, about making decisions. In conservation, ideas, knowledge and
decision-making are essential for good practice. After all, it is those decisions that have a deep
implication in the future survival of a work of art. However, to make decisions requires not only
experience but also information and time: time to imagine, time for reflection, time to find themost appropriate solution. The problem is that at the present current pace we no longer seem to
have available that required time.
Nowadays, information and time are deeply linked. Not long ago I was discussing with a friend
about the difference between the newer and older generations of conservators. When we think
more precisely about these differences, we find that before there was more time for reflection but
limited access to information whilst today we virtually have access to any possible information
source but quite limited time for its perusal.
Bibliographic resources were once scarcer, as was also the access to scientific research. Today thereare hundreds of books published in our field every year in both conservation and conservation-
science areas. However, are we better conservators for this? Are we now able to make better decisions
that will ensure the survival of works of art for future generations?
The last decade and a half has been characterised by the boom of information technologies and the
World Wide Web. In fact, today we have access to a potentially unfathomable amount of
information like never before in the entire History of Man. Nevertheless, I believe we stay as
ignorant as ever.
Diderot once said that there would come a time when it will be almost as difficult to learnanything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. Those times cant be very far
away anymore. Right now the problem is no longer if there is information about a certain issue, but
how to find it. Information access is a real problem, for example, the search for a technical sheet of
a product is probably as difficult as it was 20 years ago. Furthermore, I would argue about the
validity of the information sources we use nowadays but that would digress to a whole new topic.
Returning to the present, today we can hardly let a day pass without checking our email or doing
some search on the internet. However, no actual useful information is necessarily being found in
these ways. In the end we spend our time dealing with a lot of worthless information and we can
often end up making decisions based on incomplete data which may be useless out of context. EvenI usually thrive on more information, such as when I find a new website or book, however these
tend to be equally and easily forgotten as soon as I discover yet another website or book. This ends
up being like the paradox of choice: the more we have, the more confused we get. And we must
confess that indeed the access to more information does not necessarily make us better
professionals.
This is the situation of today. But I wonder, what does the future reserve for us? Will we perhaps be
more organised? Or will we just get more confused? So wait and see.
Rui Bordalo
Editor in Chief
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NEWS & VIEWS 6
ARTICLES
78
ARP PROCEEDINGS
53
The Application of Myth in Contemporary Ethnographic Conservation
By Daniel Cull
REVIEWS
MATCONS 2009. Matter and Materials in/for Heritage Conservation
September 15-19, 2009, Craiova, Romania
Review by Irina Crina Anca Sandu
COST Training School:
Indoor Air Quality in Museums, Galleries and Archives
May 5-9, 2009, Vienna, Austria
Review by Oana Chachula
The 15th International Heritage Show
November 5-8, 2009, Paris, France
Review by Anca Nicolaescu
ANNOUNCEMENTS
UPCOMING EVENTSMarch 2009
The restoration of the Turin Shroud:
A Conservation and Scientific Disaster
by William Meacham
The Critical RH for the Appearance of Bronze Disease
in Chloride Contaminated Copper and Copper Alloy Artefacts
by Alexios Papapelekanos
Aspects of the Scientific Research of the Historical Monument
from Heresti, Romania
by Dragos Ene and Roxana Radvan
The Altar Frontal of the Church of Nossa Senhora da Piedade
De Santarm
by Eva Armindo
The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Thoms Luis
by Filipa Raposo Cordeiro
EVENTS
8
65
INDEX
25
18
8
28
43
13
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news&v
iew
THE APPLICATION OF MYTH IN CONTEMPORARYETHNOGRAPHIC CONSERVATION
Returning from the Canadian Conserva-
tion Institutes Symposium 2007 I wrote
a review in which, quoting from the pro-
gram, I noted:
The symposium was organized using the
traditional circle, described by Gilbert W.
Whiteduck (Algonquin from the Kitigan
Zibi Anishinabeq First Nation) as allow-
ing for 'reflection, open dialogue, and
consensus'.[1]
However, it wasnt until recently that I
began to consider as significant the con-nection between the idea of consensus,
noted in my review, and contemporary
ethnographic conservation praxis; which
is built on such theories as intangible
cultural heritage and stewardship, and
the practice of consultation. The conser-
vation literature despite widely discuss-
ing consultation affords scant details to
the process itself. However, it is clear thatconsultations do not follow established
hierarchicaldecision making processes[2],
and it is my contention that a modified
form of consensus best fits the logic of
such meetings. Consensus is a remarkably
common system found amongst indige-
nous groups, the Quakers (Religious So-
ciety of Friends), alter-global activists
and the feminist movement. Although
the formalities vary, the concept of con-
sensus could be summarized thus:
by Daniel Cull
We must give each other the benefit of the doubt
for honesty and good intentions. Consensus is not
the same as majority rule; its not a competition.
We are all working together to figure out the right
thing to do. [3]
Returning to the organizational consultations for
the Symposium, we can observe the same logic re-
peated, participants noted that the process created
"a respectful environment [...] as well a common
focus on the task at hand" [4], and that it was suc-
cessful "despite the diverse backgrounds, pro-
From 'Anarchism in Action: Methods, Tactics, Skills, and Ideas'.Second Edition. Complied and Edited by Shawn Ewald.
http://aia.mahost.org/
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fessions, and experiences of those in attendance"
[5]. In other words, creating an environment in
which participants assumed good faith, and worked
toward deciding what was the right thing to do,
the meeting was more successful than it would
have been had everyone come to push their own
pre-set agendas.
Consultations then are more than handing over
conservation decision making to others, the real
story is far more complex and nuanced, and al-
though consultations do not exhibit any of the
formal systems of consensus (blocks, stand asides,hand signals, etc), their underlying logic appear
to align. Intriguingly they also both rely on myth
creation for their success. Within activist forms of
consensus the conditions for moral transparency
can only be maintained by a kind of make-believe
[6] such as the necessity of never casting doubt on
others intentions, where as, in the consultation
process make belief additionally plays out in the
concept of stewardship; a mutually sustained mythin which legal positions of ownership are ignored
in order to produce an environment of equality;
mythical as consultations ultimately have to mesh
with hierarchicalsuperstructures of museum boards,
tribal councils, etc.
Conservation realizing that cultural objects are
the result of social relationships, has undergone
a readjustment towards an emphasis less on cul-tural artefacts and more on concern for living cul-
tures; an act the situationists defined as a search
for lost unity [7], in an interesting parallel con-
sensus has been suggested as a way of seeking
commonality [8]. Contextually then in imagining
consultation as a consensus process we can begin
to (re)define conservation as facilitating the in-
tense and ongoing (re)negotiation of social rela-
tionships surrounding material culture.
Notes:
[1] D. Cull, "Preserving Aboriginal Heritage: Technical
and Traditional Approaches: A Review", ICON News,Issue 13, November 2007, pp. 39
[2]'Robert's Rules of Order', www.rulesonline.com
[3] Mark, during a spokescouncil meeting in Burling-ton, April 17th 2001. Quoted in: David Graeber,Direct Action: An Ethnography, AK Press, Edinburghand Oakland, 2009, pp. 123
[4] Gilbert Whiteduck, in Preserving AboriginalHeritage: Technical and Traditional Approaches,Proceedings of Symposium 2007, Ottawa, 24-28September, 2007, Carole Dignard et al. (Eds.),Canadian Conservation Institute, 2008, pp. xv
[5] J. Inch, in: Dignard et al., 2008, pp. vii
[6] Graeber, 2009, pp. 331
[7] G. Debord,Society of the Spectacle, Black and Red,
Detroit, 1980, pp. 180
[8] Chris at a DAN facilitation training, Spring 2000.Quoted in: Graeber, 2009, pp. 304
DANIEL CULLAssistant ConservatorThe Musical Instrument Museum
Website: http://dancull.wordpress.comContact: daniel.cull@themim.org
Daniel Cull is an ethnographic objects conservator,
collaborator with e-conservation magazine, and
a conservation blogger. He holds a BSc in Archae-
ology, an MA and MSc in Conservation, was an
Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the National Museum
of the American Indian/Smithsonian Institution,
and currently works at the Musical Instrument
Museum, Arizona.
VIEWS
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Review by Irina Crina Anca Sandu
MATCONS 2009 was an important conference or-
ganised in Romania in the fall of 2009, that brought
together experts from different areas of the conser-
vation of cultural heritage and conservation sci-
ence, both from Romanian and foreign institutions.
The arrival, registration and accommodation of the
participants were done on Monday, 14th of Septem-
ber and a welcome dinner was offered by the or-ganisers at the Park Hotel Restaurant in Craiova.
The conference was structured in morning and
afternoon sessions, complemented by parallel
events. Key lectures1 were given by renowned ex-
perts and specialists invited from abroad, such as
Jan Wouters and Annemnie Adriaens from Belgium,
Luigi Campanella, Maria Perla Colombini, Piero
Baglioni, Lorena Botti and Matteo Placido from
Italy, Ren Larsen from Denmark, Marianne Odlyha
from England, Manfred Schreiner from Austria,
Andras Morgos from Japan, Jana Subic Prislan
from Slovenia, Leonor Loureiro, Patricia Monteiro,
Milene Gil and Irina Sandu from Portugal, etc.
The parallel sessions were held at the Oltenia Mu-
seum Lecture Hall on 15, 16 and 17 of September.
After the opening session, an interesting National
Exhibition of Movable Cultural Heritage Restora-
tion was inaugurated in the newly restructuredbuilding of the Museum.
The conference registered 125 participants, from
Romania and other countries, such as Belgium,
Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Portugal,
Ukraine, Slovenia and Japan.
The Romanian participants came from all the re-
gions of the country, being professionals from the
national network of the Ministry of Culture and
Cults, together with researchers and teachers per-
forming activities related to the conservation of
September 15-19, 2009, Craiova, Romaniahttp://www.forummuzeulolteniei.ro
Organisers and financial support: Dolj county Council, Museum of Oltenia and ICOM Romania, with theConservation Institute from Copenhagen, Turin University, Craiova University and ICPI Bucharest
MATCONS 2009
REVIEWS
Matter and Materials in/for Heritage Conservation
8 e-conservation
1 Foreign specialists brought interesting contributions tothe conference, such as Dr. Jan Wouters ("Philosophies, in-struments and networks aiming at a better understandingand conservation of cultural heritage"), Prof. Ren Larsen("The IDAP Assessment Programme: Recent developmentand examples of its use in practice"), Dr. Annemie Adriaens
("The use of carboxylate coatings on lead as environmentallysafe corrosion inhibition"), Prof. Piero Baglioni ("Conservationof cultural heritage: there is plenty of room for colloid sci-
ence"), Prof. Maria Perla Colombini ("Saving wall paintings:organic materials characterization and restoration processes"),Prof. Marianne Odyhla ("Understanding microclimates inmuseums and their impact on heritage materials"), Prof.Manfred Schreiner ("Non-destructive analysis for artifactsof parchment and paper"), Dr. Laura Botti et al. ("Photogra-
phic printing processes: studies and analysis"), Dr. PatriciaMonteiro ("Portuguese treatises and their relevance to muralpaintings"), etc.
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Romanian cultural heritage. Besides the personnel
from the Museum of Oltenia in Craiova, that brought
a fundamental contribution to the organization
of the conference, many specialists participated
from museums all around the country.
Romanian research institutions and universities
were also represented, such as the National Re-
search Institute for Conservation and Restoration
(INCCR), the National Research and Development
Institute (ICPE-CA), the National Research and
Development Institute of Leather and Textile - ICPI
Division in Bucharest and the Art and Design Uni-
versity in Cluj Napoca.
The first session of lectures was introduced by Dr.
Virgil Nitulescu, President of ICOM-Romania. His
intervention focused on the actual situation of cul-
tural heritage in Romania and on the educational
system established for training conservators-re-
storers and conservation scientists. In this respect,
the f irst invited speaker, Dr. Jan Wouters, re-cre-
ated a panoramic view on the research in Europein the field of heritage science and on the utility
of conservation science for a better understanding
and conservation of the cultural heritage.
Prof. Marianne Odlyha from Birkbeck College pre-
sented the results reported from several European
Commission projects: Improved Damage Assess-
ment of Parchment (IDAP), Monitoring of Dam-
age of Historic Tapestries (MODHT), ImprovedProtection of Paintings during Exhibition, Storage
and Transit (PROPAINT) and Sensor System to
Detect Harmful Environments for Pipe Organs
(SENSORGAN).
Prof. Ren Larsen illustrated some projects on the
damage assessment of parchment in which a metho-
dology for assessing the phenomena of physical
deterioration and chemical degradation of parch-
ment and leather fibers at microscopic level was
applied.
Dr. Elena Badea and Prof. Giuseppe della Gatta form
the University of Turin (Italy) gave an interesting
lecture on the physical chemistry for preservation
and conservation of historical parchments, speak-
ing of the use of differential scanning calorimetry
(DSC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), IR, UV-
Vis spectroscopies, environmental scanning elec-
tron microscopy (ESEM) and atomic force micro-
copy (AFM) for the investigation of damages in
archival parchments from the State archives of
Turin, State Archives of Genova, State Archives
of Florence, Historical Archives of Turin and Na-
tional Archives of Stirling.
Prof. Manfred Schreiner presented a transportable
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer developed and
assembled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna
in order to allow in situ examination of works of
art in museums, libraries and in archaeological
excavation sites. Few case studies in which this
instrument was applied were also reported.
Prof. Alessandro Vitale-Brovarone made a very in-
teresting intervention about the history of the
Turins university library and the attempt to re-
store parchments that were fire-damaged in 1904
during a project started at the end of the 90s and
ended in 2004.
Prof. Piero Baglioni underlined the importance and
the role of Colloid Science in the conservation ofcultural heritage, exemplifying with few case studies
this kind of applications: nano-magnetic sponges
and oil-in-water nano-containers for cleaning of
works of art, nano-particles for wood and mural
paintings conservation, nano-technologies for
paper and canvas deacidification, etc.
Prof. Maria Perla Colombini gave a very interesting
lecture about the use of chromatographic mass
spectrometric techniques (HPLC/MS, GC/MS, Py-
GC/MS, DEMS) for organic materials characteriza-
REVIEWS
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tion in wall paintings and for a better choice of the
intervention system. The conservation project of
the wall paintings in Camposanto monumentale
of Pisa (Italy) was presented on this occasion.
Patricia Monteiro from the Faculty of Arts and Lit-
erature, University of Lisbon, spoke about the Por-
tuguese treatises and their relevance to mural
painting materials and techniques, consideringalso the difficulty in interpreting the information
they contain.
Among the Romanian lecturers a special mention
should be done for Dr. Nicoleta Zagura, UNESCO
expert, who spoke about the efforts done in Roma-
nia through the cultural association she founded
- Art and Heritage UNESCO Club - to increase the
interest and education about the local and inter-nationally recognized heritage, and for Dr. Ioan
Opris, eminent art historian, who has drawn the
attention to the emergency strategy to be adopted
for the preservation of the cultural heritage of
Modern Romania.
An interesting workshop on Conservation and
restoration of historical parchment and leather
was organized in the evenings of 15th and 16th,
the participation being open to a certain number
of conference participants and to the Romanian
specialists in conservation of archives and library
materials. The organizers of this workshop were
the University of Turin (Prof. Giuseppe della Gatta),
the School of Conservation of the Royal Academy
of Fine Arts in Copenhagen (Dr. Ren Larsen) and
the National Research and Development Institute
for Textile and Leather in Bucharest (Dr. Luminita
Albu). The workshop had the objective to provide
and update the picture of the chemical and physicalnature of parchment as well as its ageing and de-
terioration processes caused by the environment.
On 16 of September a final round table on the
topic Programs of research and training in the
field of conservation and restoration of cultural
heritage was organized at the University House
in Craiova, and coordinated by Prof. Radu Constan-
tinescu from Romania and Prof. Giuseppe dellaGatta from Italy. The participants discussed the
topics of interest for a potential network to be
established at European level and about funding
opportunities in Romania and abroad.
Poster session were also organized between the
main sessions, giving place to debates, exchange
of opinions and contact among the participants.
The next three days were dedicated to visiting
places with cultural and historical significance
10 e-conservation
Monuments visited during the conference trip: Curtea de Arges, Monastery, early 16th century (left) and Prejmer medieval
fortified church, 13th - 14thcentury (right).
REVIEWS
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from Romania, in a trip meant to illustrate the
richness of the Romanian natural and cultural
heritage in Transylvania region.
After the closing of the conference, a short visit
at the Monastery Curtea de Arges, famous historic
monument part of the Romanian built heritage
took place, and a traditional lunch in a Pilgrims
guest house near the monastery was offered in
the afternoon of 17 of September. Afterwards, a
short visit was paid to the Ethnographic Museum in
Campulung Muscel and in the evening the parti-
cipants were housed at the Panicel guest housenear Rasnov city, in the green heart of the Transyl-
vanian Mountains.
The day of 18 of September was dedicated to other
visits to important monuments, such as the forti-
fied church of Prejmer, Rasnov Fortress, Bran Castle
and other museums and churches in Brasov county.
The last day, the morning of 19 of September, was
dedicated to the visit to Peles and Pelisor Palacesin Sinaia, former residences of the Royal family of
Romania.
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Last but not least we should mention the precious
contribution given by the local organizing com-
mittee, formed by personnel from the Museum
of Oltenia in Craiova (Tutu Barbulescu, Simona-
Violeta Gheorghe, Rodica Florentina Opritescu,
Alina Maria Garau, Anisoara Vatuiu, Leonard Io-
nescu, Cristina Stamate) whose dedication and
hard work assured a fluent development of all the
activities during the conference and the success
of the wonderful trip to the important monuments
in the Transylvanian Mountains, an emblematic
region for the culture and history of Romania.
IRINA CRINA ANCA SANDUContact: irina.sandu@dq.fct.unl.pt
Irina Sandu (PhD) is an Assistant Researcher at the
Faculty of Science and Technology (FCT) of the New
University (UNL) in Lisbon, where she develops
research for the Conservation and Restoration of
Cultural Heritage. She is the author / co-author of
12 monographs on conservation and more than 45published papers, and was involved in 20 interna-
tional research projects and scientific collaborations.
REVIEWS
Participants to the conference hiking the hill to Rasnov fortress (13th - 14th century). Photo by Nicoleta Zagura.
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REVIEWS
Between 5 and 9 May 2009 a new COST-sponsored
training course took place in Vienna, within the
frame of the COST Action D42 "EnviArt: Chemical
Interactions between Cultural Artefacts and In-
door Environment". The workshop was organized
by Dr. Erwin Rosenberg from the Vienna University
of Technology, Institute of Chemical Technologies
and Analytics, in collaboration with the Kunst-historisches Museum, the Technisches Museum
and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.
The scope of this Training School was to address
significant aspects of indoor air quality in relation
to art objects exhibited or stored in museums, gal-
leries and archives. The workshop gathered par-
ticipants from diverse backgrounds and training,
from both the academic and the conservation field,such as conservator-restorers, scientists, curators,
chemists, physicists or biologists working in muse-
ums, collections or archives. The workshop brought
together a total of 42 speakers and participants
who came mostly from European countries but
also from the USA.
The training course was planned in such a way as
to include both theoretical lectures and practical
laboratory work, combined with site visits to some
Viennese museums in order to demonstrate actual
problems, practices and possible solutions. A two-
way approach to understanding these issues was
adopted: on a theoretical level, analytical methods
and preventive conservation strategies were dis-
cussed, and on a practical level, measurements of
indoor air quality of museums or archives were
undertaken.
The programme was even more diverse, including
visits to national and private museums and to la-
boratories and companies that provide services of
conservation, exhibit or transport of art objects.
The lectures proved to be extremely informative,
speakers coming from various fields related to
conservation of cultural heritage.
Rene van Grieken, from Belgium, in his lectureAshes to ashes, dust to dust: the fate of all things?
On indoor air pollution through particlesspoke
about climate, humidity, temperature, light, air
pollutants and gases from archives with a particu-
lar emphasis on how important preventive conser-
vation is, namely by improving the environmental
conditions (microclimate and chemical pollution)
around the work of art. On the same line, discus-
sions were continued by Dr. Dario Camuffo from
Italy, who focused on the general interaction be-
tween environmental factors and works of art,
COST TRAINING SCHOOL: INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN MUSEUMS,GALLERIES AND ARCHIVES
Analytical Methods and Preventive Conservation Strategies
Review by Oana Chachula
May 5-9, 2009, Vienna, AustriaOrganiser: COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology)
http://www.cost.esf.org/
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14 e-conservation
REVIEWS
especially moisture, and the interaction of water
molecules with the environment.
Prof. Dr. Manfred Schreiner spoke about corrosion
of glass and enamel artefacts and the influence
that air quality has on this process. He focused on
conservation problems and preventive conserva-
tion strategies of medieval stained glass, present-
ing six glass weathering theories.
It appears that many museums around the world
have similar problems related with indoor emis-
sions, building materials, particle filtration orventilation. For example, at the Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art particles of Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3)
have been detected in galleries, showcases and
storerooms. Among the many actual problems re-
lated with air quality in museums and galleries,
particles interaction is the least studied. However,
even when the answer to such problems is not al-
ways easy to find, one possible solution would be
a better air filtering.
Helene Tello, from the Ethnological Museum, Na-
tional Museums Berlin, brought another issue in-
to discussion, namely which are the best strategies
and analytical methods to adopt for the use of bio-
cides in ethnographic collections: the organic or
the inorganic ones. She discussed their impact on
collections and the arguments pro and against the
non-destructive analytical methods and available
technology. It was also underlined that attention
must be directed to the impact biocides have on
collection objects, but mostly on the human health.
From Norway, Terje Grntoft presented "Simple
devices for monitoring and assessment of indoor air
quality for museums, archives, and historic build-
ings" and did a demonstration of use of EWO do-
simeters and monitoring concepts, dividing them
into Continuous Monitoring (C), Online Monitoring
(O), Active Measurements (A) and Passive Meas-
urements (P). Next, the theoretical concepts were
put into practice, participants being given the
opportunity to test the equipment and learn howto interpret the results.
Group photo of TS par ticipants at Artex company, Vienna. Photo by Valentina Ljubic from the Technisches Museum Wien.
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REVIEWS
A similar aspect was also addressed by Marianne
Odlyha and C.Theodorakopoulos from Birkbeck
College in London, UK, with a focus on the impact
of indoor environments corrosivity on complex
organic materials.
Several practical examples were offered from the
condition survey projects in museums from Nor-
way, from the National Archives of Finland (Istvn
Kecskemeti, PhD), the State Archives of Genoa and
Turin (Marianne Odlyha, PhD), the Technisches Mu-
seum Wien (Ing. Anita Preisler), or from churches
(the Sistine Chapel in Rome and Santa Corona inVicenza).
On the protection of metal objects in storage, Mar-
tina Griesser-Stermscheg from the University of
Applied Arts Vienna presented the conclusions of
an experiment where several objects were kept in
oxygen free packages and in packages with oxy-
gen, and were compared with unpacked objects.
After 5 years, the research showed that the oxy-gen-free packing is not recommended for metal
objects, while packing with oxygen offers a good
protection against oxidation and corrosion for
objects of silver, gilded silver, copper, lead and
steel. This application was put into practice at the
research laboratories of University of Applied Arts
Vienna in cooperation with the Scientific Labora-
tory of the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
A very interesting intervention was done by Klaus
Pokorny, who spoke about the lighting concept in
museums and modern techniques used for light-
ing objects in the exhibition. He presented differ-
ent approaches to lighting in three exhibition case
studies from the National Portrait Gallery London,
Museum Liaunig Carinthia and Technisches Museum
Wien. The presentation was followed by a site visit
to the Technisches Museum Wien where the inte-
grated light, temperature and RH concept of the
exhibition rooms were discussed.
Another interesting visit was made to the private
company Artex Art Services from Vienna, where
their current practice and modern technology to
ensure optimal indoor air conditions for storage
and transport of art objects was demonstrated.
Other visits with practical applications were or-
ganized at the Michaelergruft, the Technisches
Museum Wien and the Naturhistorisches Museum
Wien (NHM, Natural History Museum). This last,
founded in 1858 at the behest of Emperor Franz
Joseph I, possesses very valuable showcases that
represent by themselves a quality of the museum.The necessity of preserving these original show-
cases dating from the 19th century was discussed,
but also the methods of conserving the objects
and organic materials therein. These issues were
Historic showcases at Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
(Natural History Museum).
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REVIEWS
presented by Silvia Kalabis and Hans Reschreiter
in the paper "The adaptation of the historical show-
cases in the prehistoric collection of the NHM".
The visit to the Michaelergruft focused on the tombs
located in the basement, and aimed to discuss the
conservation methods of the coff ins in their environ-
ment by reducing the humidity and temperature to
order to prevent the development of molds and the
degradation of the wood, the constituent material
of the coffin. Dr. Alexandra Rainer, scientific ad-
visor of the Michaelgruft, spoke about the historic,
restorative and technological aspects of this case.
Peter Brimblecombe from the Univerity of East
Anglia showed in his presentation "Air chemistry
and exchange with rooms and cases in a changing
climate" that in general, visitors are one of the
reasons for the presence of dust in galleries and
of the increased level of temperature and humidity.
In order to minimize the impact on the collections,
the visitors should keep away from objects thatare not protected by showcases, limiting the ex-
posure to pollutants. At the same time, he spoke
about a new challenge in terms of climate change,
and about what damages can occur if global tem-
peratures increase and if summers become signi-
ficantly drier. He showed that degradation is strictly
connected to physical, chemical and biological
processes.
The Training Course was ended by a visit to the
first villa of Austrian Art Noveau architect Otto
Wagner that was restored in early 1970s by the
renowned painter Ernst Fuchs. The artist saved it
from being demolished and inaugurated in 1988
the Ernst Fuchs private museum that gathers a
large collection of his works.
After this 5-day workshop, we can conclude that
it is for us all to assume responsibility for the pro-tection of both the environment and the cultural
heritage. Although there are many conservation-
scientists, few turn their attention to pollutants,
a process that acts both from the outside and the
inside. Situations may differ from one geographic
region to another, but collaboration among spe-
cialists in various fields can help to better under-
stand the degradation causes, mechanisms and
effects that objects in collections are subjected to.Last but not least, as Dr. Erwin Rosenberg noted,
our methods, devices and materials need to be
developed or further improved. Therefore, we need
to employ the best preservation strategies and
conservation management methods that will help
us find adequate solutions for each individual case.
Outer view of Otto Wagner's villa, now housing the Ernst Fuchs Museum (left) and one of the rooms in the museum, with paintings
by the artist and the original Art Noveau stained glass windows. Photos by Erwin Rosenberg from the Vienna University of Technology.
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Useful links:http://www.costd42.org
http://www.technischesmuseum.at
http://www.akbild.ac.at/.../restaurierung
http://www.nhm-wien.ac.at
http://www.khm.at
http://www.iaq.dk
17e-conservation
REVIEWS
Group photo by Miriam Bazn Castaneda.
OANA CHACHULA
Conservation ScientistContact: oana_chachula@yahoo.com
National Museum of Romanian History / Centre
of Research and Scientific Investigation
Calea Victoriei, nr.12, S 3, 030026,
Bucharest, Romania
Oana Chachula, conservation scientist expert in
biological investigations, graduated from the
Faculty of Biology Al. I. Cuza, in Iasi (Romania) in
2002. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Animal
Taxonomy field at Biology Faculty, University of
Bucharest. She has been working at INCCR as a
biologist for 3 years, her current work responsi-
bilities including the biological investigation of
movable objects and historical buildings.
TS participants having an interesting discussion with Dr.
Alexandra Rainer in the courtyard of the Michaelerchurch.
Photo by Valentina Ljubic of the Technisches Museum Wien.
http://www.iaq.dk/http://www.akbild.ac.at/Portal/studium/institute/konservierung-restaurierunghttp://www.nhm-wien.ac.at/http://www.khm.at/http://www.technischesmuseum.at/http://www.costd42.org/8/9/2019 e Conservation Magazine n 13, February 2010
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The 15th International Heritage Show took placeat the beginning of November 2009 in the presti-
gious setting of the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris.
The event brought together 250 international ex-
hibitors (from France, Belgium, Canada, Denmark,
Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherland,
Portugal, Russia and Spain) and around 20 000
visitors.
This year, the International Show was for the firsttime organized by Ateliers dArt de France1, which
acquired the event in the spring of 2009.
Each year, the show is focused on a new theme in-
volving thus new exhibitors and visitors, new media
and promotional input. This years topic was The
Heritage of Religions.
Embracing the topic, the exhibitors displayed theirachievements in this area and offered their know-
how demonstrations to the visitors. Beside con-
servator-restorers, artists or craftsmen, the salon
also hosted: suppliers of materials and products for
movable or immovable assets or museum materials
and equipment; decision-makers and project man-
agers (architects, entrepreneurs, trade organisa-
tions), training and education centres, universities
or institutes; players in the New Technologies and
suppliers of advanced materials (scientists, re-search centres, laboratories); publishers; local au-
thorities, institutions and associations.
The participants were gathered under the same
goals in order to promote quality craftsmanship
and expertise, to set up and develop meetings
between conservators, craftsmen or artists and
potential clients, and to present the various stra-
tegies regarding the spiritual and cultural heritagepreservation and management.
To have a real perception of the complexity of the
salon, only the fields covered by exhibitors display-
ing a conservation-restoration activity, were vary-
ing from stained-glass windows, iron joinery, or-
gans, old clock and bell mechanisms to ceramic
and glass objects, furniture, textiles, leather, sculp-
ture, frames, wall paintings and decorations and
easel paintings. Almost anything one can connect
with Religious Heritage in general!
THE 15th INTERNATIONAL HERITAGE SHOW
Review by Anca Nicolaescu
November 5-8, 2009Paris, France
Organiser: Ateliers dArt de Francehttp://www.patrimoineculturel.com
1 Atelier dArt de France is a French trade organization forCrafts. Founded in 1868, it unites today 2,800 craft
workers whether they are craftsmen, artists or craftworkshops to lend them support and assistance towardstheir promotion and development.
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For the orientation of the public throughout thesalon spaces, depending on interest and also to
ease the contacts exchange, the organizers pro-
vided a useful catalog with the participants pro-
file and contact details.
Walking into the fair, the visitors were first received
by informational stands of institutions, associations
or local authorities showing their past or current
projects throughout images, movies or short pre-sentations on this years theme. That was the per-
fect place for visitors or participants to make con-
tacts for future partnerships in all kind of cultural
related areas, or to get updated with the new stra-
tegies of cultural interest.
Further on, the visitors were arriving in the sec-
tion dedicated to publishers on art and culture,
from printed magazines and online publicationsto specialized bookshops.
Nearby, Art Schools, Institutes or Universities were
presenting their offers and giving all the demanded
details to students interested in courses and de-
grees in art and heritage conservation.
Deeper in the Carrousel du Louvre was the melting-
pot of the art and craft, conservation-restora-
tion materials and equipment suppliers, where
the exhibitors were giving demonstrations or
presenting samples of their work in stands resem-bling corners of studios. It was a very interesting set
up of workshops and objects animated by artists
or restorers ready to introduce you to their work
or to answer your questions.
Visitors were able to see component fragments
of organ-pipes or even big brass bells, beautiful
trompe loeil of marble and wood patterns, mosaic
and frescoes fragments, religious furniture, jewels
and so on, done with extraordinary craftsmanship.
The religious heritage preservation is, actually, the
best example where knowledge of old traditional
techniques is very important for best conservation
and restoration achievements. Therefore, this mix-
ture of arts, old crafts and restoration presented at
the fair was a good opportunity for meeting mas-
ters who keep the tradition alive and are willing to
share details of their work with those interested.
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Another interesting aspect of the event was the
organization of discussion panels and seminars
with the participation of international experts and
specialists who informed the fair-going public
about topical subjects related to the theme of the
year, and debated heritage problems.The issues
brought into discussion covered a wide thematic
range such as: causes and consequences of the
religious heritage destruction and degradation in
history; the future of Europes religious heritage;
religious patrimony and contemporary art or sub-
jects regarding the advanced technologies in her-
itage conservation, to mention only few of them.
It is difficult to encompass in a short review the
complexity of this event with an immense area of
interest and exhibitors. For five days I constantly
went to Louvres Carrousel, willing to see and dis-
cuss with as many exhibitors as possible, but at
the end I still had the feeling that I might have
overlooked some stands. It was a huge concentra-
tion of interesting aspects of everything connected
with the fairs subject the Religious Heritage.
The next edition, the 16th International Heritage
Show, is already announced for 4-7 November
2010, focusing this time on The Mediterranean
Heritage. I'm certain that it is definitely worth
visiting it.
ANCA NICOLAESCUConservator-Restorer
Contact: anca.nicolaescu@e-conservationline.com
Anca Nicolaescu (BA, MA) is a conservator of wall
paintings, having coordinated various on-site
conservation projects from Romania. Her work
experience also includes international participa-
tion at conservation projects and seminars in UK,
Turkey, Uzbekistan, Japan and India. She is one
of the co-founders of Restauro Art Grup conser-
vation company and of e-conservation magazine,
where she presently works as an editor.
REVIEWS
20 e-conservation
Photo by Serban Bonciocat
Photo by Mihaela Dumitru
Photo by Serban Bonciocat
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RESEARCH IN BOOK AND PAPERCONSERVATION IN EUROPE
- a State of the Art-
Editor: Patricia EngelPublisher: Verlag BergerPublication date: November 2009Pages: 328 (Paperback)ISBN: 978-3850284905Language: English
This recently published book makes a timely
review of the research in the field of book and
paper conservation in Europe. An overview of
the state-of-the-art will assist paper conservator-
restorers in their practical work, providing up-
to-date information and results of conservation-
restoration in books, prints, drawings and other
artistic works on paper. The book aims to help in
the decision making process not only the conser-vator-restorer, but also other key players in the
field, such as authorities, politicians and collec-
tors. Three main aspects of research are covered:
basic research, applied research and experimental
development in preservation and conservation-
restoration of books and works on paper.
The book is written in English because it aims
to reach a pan-European audience, the problems
and needs in conservation-restoration being
basically the same, regardless of the geographic
location.
NEWS
21e-conservation
SUPPORT THEISTITUTO CENTRALE PERIL RESTAURO!
TheIstituto Centrale per il Restauro (ICR, Central
Institute for Restoration) was founded in 1939
in Rome and is one of the oldest institutions
dedicated to the conservation and restoration
of cultural heritage. ICR was recently renamed
Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Re-
stauro (ISCR, the Higher Institute for the Conser-
vation and Restoration) and in the end of the
month (February 2010) will be forced to leavethe historical premises of San Pietro in Vincoli
in Rome which it occupied since is foundation.
According to Professor Mario Micheli, the precipi-
tous transferral of the Institute could compromise
the forthcoming and opportune reopening of the
Restoration School, and weaken the efficiency
of the Institute's technical-scientific structures,
leading to its inevitable closure. In order to avoid
this, an Open Letter to the President of the Italian
Republic Giorgio Napolitano was made available
online in Italian and English at:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/33441.html.
e-conservation supports this appeal and asks its
readers to consider signing this worthy action
before the end of the month.
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Ecr estudos de conservao e restauro (studies
in conservation and restoration) is a new Portu-guese journal published annually in open access
by CITAR (Research Center for Science and Techno-
logy in Art) from the Portuguese Catholic Univer-
sity. The journal publishes peer reviewed articles,
news and reviews in Portuguese, Spanish and En-
glish. The journal is distributed under a Creative
Commons license.
Ecr defines itself as a publication wishing to become
a reference not only on the Portuguese academicscene but on international level as well through
the dissemination of scientific research done in
the field of conservation of cultural heritage. Ac-
cording to its director, Ana Calvo, the publication
was born following the establishment in 2002 of
a course in conservation-restoration at the School
of Arts from the Catholic University and aims to
serve as an evaluation platform for the research
developed therein. The journal will publish studies
on material and technologic aspects of conserva-
tion-restoration treatments, including complemen-
tary topics such as historic and artistic studies or
production technologies and materials.
The first issue of the journal has been published
online in December 2009 and can be consulted
at http://citar.artes.ucp.pt/ecr/.
Ge-Conservacin, Revista digital hispano-lusa de
conservacin y restauracin ("Hispano-Portuguese
DigitalMagazine of Conservation-Restoration"),
is the new publication of GEIIC (Grupo Espaol de
Conservacin/Spanish Conservation Group of the
International Institute for Conservation of Historic
and Artistic Works), published in association with
the Duques de Soria Foundation.The journal, also published once a year, is addressed
mainly to Spanish and Portuguese-speaking
countries. Its aim is to contribute to the scientific
development, dissemination and exchange of know-
ledge in the field of cultural heritage conservation
and restoration. The publishing areas include origi-
nal academic research, significant case studies and
opinion articles.
The 2009 issue of this journal was published in
pdf format and is available to download from
http://ge-iic.com/revista/index.php?lang=en.
NEW OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATIONS: A NEW DIRECTION IN CONSERVATION?
Two new open access journals dedicated to conser-
vation of cultural heritage were launched at the
end of 2009: ecr estudos de conservao erestauro and Ge-Conservacin.Not very long time ago there was a big void in our
field concerning online publications. In 2007, when
e-conservation magazine came online, we made
a survey that showed that very few professionals
heard of open access concept. Since then, we count
at least 3 new publications, namely from Belgium,Spain and Portugal.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome their
advent on the internet, and witness perhaps the
emergence of a new direction in the publication
of conservation resources: in electronic format
and with free distribution.
NEWS
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HAITI EARTHQUAKE DAMAGE
The recent earthquake that stroke Haiti on January12, as immediately echoed all around the world,
was truly devastating by any standards. Haitis
cultural heritage was also deeply affected and
requires urgent attention, but even now it is still
diff icult to assess the damages due to the collapse
ofthe communication structure in Haiti.
Continuous efforts are being made by ICOM through
its Disaster Relief for Museums Task Force (DRFM),
its Secretariat and its national committees to gathermore data and to decide on the most appropriate
actions to be taken. ICOMs latest damage asses-
sment report was made available on February 9.
According to the limited information made public
so far, several monuments and historic buildings
have suffered severe damages and libraries and
schools have collapsed or are in precarious condi-
tion. Fortunately, museum collections seem to have
been less affected by the earthquake.
Many institutions and organizations reacted im-
mediately, helping the victims or contributing in
any way possible to the relief activities. Any help
is precious in the present condition, and the loss
also depends on our efforts to salvage as soon as
possible what is left from Haitis cultural heritage.
The Association of National Committees of the Blue
Shield (ANCBS) has launched on online call for
conservator-restorers and other experts in the
cultural heritage field to register as volunteers.
Haitian women amidst rubble in Port-au-Prince, January 20, 2010.
Photo by U.S. Air Force
The News section is publishing diverse
information on cultural heritage topics, such
as on-site conservation projects reports,
conferences, lectures, talks or workshops
reviews, but also course reviews and any other
kind of appropriate announcements. If you are
involved in interesting projects and you want
to share your experience with everybody else,
please send us your news or announcements.
For more details, such as deadlines and
publication guidelines, please visitwww.e-conservationline.com
NEWS
23e-conservation
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haitian_women_amidst_rubble_in_Port-au-Prince_2010-01-20.JPGhttp://haiti2010.blueshield-international.org/http://icom.museum/risk_management.htmlhttp://www.e-conservationline.com/8/9/2019 e Conservation Magazine n 13, February 2010
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Are you reading this?So is everybody else...
e-conservationline
For advertisingand other information on publicity,
please contact
general@e-conservationline.com
and request a copy of our mediakit.
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ev
ents
The events in this section are linked to the
original homepage of the organisers or to the
calendar of events at www.conservationevents.com.
Click on "Read more..." to find out more details
about each event.
Tcnicas orientales aplicadas ala restauracin del papel
Date: 2-5 March Read more...
Place: Valencia, Spain
Las tcnicas orientales de manipulacin y
tratamiento del papel ofrecen al restauradoroccidental una gama de alternativas tcnicas
extraordinariamente enriquecedoras, porque
ofrecen respuestas diferentes a problemas co-
munes. En este curso, la restauradora Katarzyna
Zych Zmuda, experta en este tipo de tcnicas
internacionalmente reconocida, ensear a
un grupo reducido de alumnos las tcnicas ms
interesantes para el restaurador mediante de-
mostraciones y prcticas guiadas desarrolladasen un laboratorio de restauracin.
International Symposium onthe future of Museum Climate
In the context of Global Climate Change and
Energy Priority
Date: 1 March Read more...
Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
How can we create exhibitions and expose our
common cultural heritage in a sustainable way
which is also acceptable for future generations?
How can museums be run in a more CO2 neutral
way while simultaneously guaranteeing an ade-
quate indoor climate? These, and other crucial
questions and issues, will be discussed and scru-
tinized during this one day symposium.
M
arch2010
The Fifth DOCAM Summit
IRUG9: 9th Biennial Conference of theInfrared and Raman Users Group
Date: 3-6 March Read more...
Place: Buenos Aires, Argentina
The IRUG biennial conferences offer an excellent oppor-
tunity for the exchange of scientific results and new
developments in the application of infrared and Raman
spectroscopy to the conservation and study of the cul-
tural heritage. Attendees to these conferences are sci-
entists, conservators, restorers, as well as curators within
the art conservation and historic preservation f ields
interested in the application of IR and Raman spectros-
copy to the study of materials used in art and archaeology.
Date: 3-5 March Read more...
Place: Montreal, Canada
The DOCAM (Documentation and Conservation of the Media
Arts Heritage) Research Alliance invites submissions of
abstracts for the presentation of papers at the 2010 DOCAM
Summit, which will mark the end of f ive years of research.
DOCAM is an international research alliance initiated by
the Daniel Langlois Foundation for Art, Science, and Tech-
nology. Its main objective is to develop new methodo-
logies and tools to address the issues of preserving and
documenting digital, technological, and electronic artworks.
e-conservation
'Picasso, Materials, and Antibes' - IconPaintings Group Talk
Date: 3 March Read more...
Place: London, UK
The ICON Paintings Group invite you to a talk given by Dr.
Marilyn McCully, American art historian and exhibition
organiser. She has a particular interest in Picasso's use
of non-traditional materials, and in the ways in which
art historians, conservators and scientists might mostfruitfully collaborate on research.
http://conservationevents.com/component/option,com_events/task,view_detail/agid,640http://www.irug9.org/http://www.incca.org/call-for-papers-docam-2010http://www.cfp.upv.es/cfp-posei2-web/cursos/idiomaes-cid21746_tecnicas-orientales-aplicadas-a-la-restauracion-del-papel.htmlhttp://www.dkmuseer.dk/arrangementer/891/8/9/2019 e Conservation Magazine n 13, February 2010
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Conservation in Focus 2010
Multidisciplinary Conservation:a Holistic View for Historic Interiors
Interim Meeting of Five ICOM-CC Working Groups
Date: 23-26 March Read more...
Place: Rome, Italy
The meeting will consist in three days of presentations.
Sessions will be dedicated to the main theme of the event
that highlights specific projects focussing on interdiscipli-
nary approaches, historical and methodological aspects,
environmental issues, conservation techniques, and guide-lines for preventive conservation and maintenance. Each
working group will also have the opportunity to present and
discuss contributions and on-going research programmes
related to its specific area of interest.
Date: 24-26 March Read more...Place: Cardiff, Wales, UK
The conference aims to advance and share knowledge
about conservation issues in and beyond Icon's members
and to have an enjoyable conference where people have
time to talk and network. The first day will focus on the
two themes 'evidence based decision making in conser-
vation' and 'a sustainable future for UK conservation'.
The second day will provide the opportunity for the Icon
groups to host specialist half day seminars.
Course: Working with Plastics
Date: 23-25 March Read more...
Place: Porto, Portugal
Instructors: Thea van Oosten and Anna Lagan
The main subject of this course is to acquaint you with
the current state of knowledge regarding identification,
degradation and conservation of plastics as used in
cultural heritage.
28th Annual Visual ResourcesAssociation Conference
Preserving the Memory of the World
Date: 12 March Read more...
Place: Vancouver, Canada
Inspired by UNESCO's Memory of the World Program, the
Association of Canadian Archivists UBC Student Chapter
(ACA@UBC) is organizing a seminar and conference aimed
to opening an interdisciplinary dialogue among the custo-
dians of the world documentary heritage - librarians,
archivists, documentalists and museum curators - and
the users of such heritage.
Date: 17-20 March Read more...
Place: Atlanta, USA
General areas of this conference interest include, but are
not limited to: digital photography; digital imaging and
presentation technologies; strategic planning; cataloging
and metadata (including non-western, non-art, and spe-
cial topics cataloging); trend forecasting for the visual
resources profession; copyright and fair use; user instruc-
tion; and professional status issues.
Glass and Glazing in the 21stcentury
Design & Preservation of Contemporary & Historic
Architecture
Date: 20-21 March Read more...
Place: Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
The 2 days intensive conference will focus on developments
in architectural glasses for structural, energy saving, and
decorative uses in new building facades/building envelopes
and monuments, as well as their application in the resto-
ration and upgrading of existing structures.
March2010
EVENTS
March2010
26 e-conservation
http://committees.architects.org/hrc/hrc_news.htmhttp://www.slais.ubc.ca/people/students/student-groups/aca/symposium2010/index.htmlhttp://www.vraweb.org/conferences/2010atlanta/index.htmlhttp://www.icon.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1068&Itemid=119http://iscr.beniculturali.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=234&Itemid=104http://www.2021.pt/8/9/2019 e Conservation Magazine n 13, February 2010
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art
icleAREAS OF PUBLISHING
Conservation Treatment
Mural Painting
PaintingStone
Sculpture
Textiles
Paper / Documents
Photography
Metals
Tile / Ceramic / Glass
Furniture
Music instruments
Ethnographic assets
Archeological objects
Conservation Science
Scientific research
Material studies and characterisation
Analytical techniques
Technology development
Biodeterioration
State-of-the-art
Reviews
Preventive Conservation
Theoretic principles
Case studies
Documentation in Conservation
Standardisation
Documentation methods
Data management
Conservation Theory
Ethics
Conservation History
Art History, Iconography,
Iconology, Chemistry, Physics,
Biology, Photography, Cultural
Management, Museology,
Computer Science, Legislation
and Juridical Processes,
Conservation Policies
and any other field applied to
Conservation and Restoration
of works of art.
Find out more: www.e-conservationline.com
e-conservation
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THE RESTORATION OF THE TURIN SHROUD:A CONSERVATION AND SCIENTIFIC DISASTER
by William Meacham
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Introduction
Whether ancient or medieval, the Shroud of Turinposes one of the truly abiding mysteries of all ar-
chaeological and art historical artefacts. It is the
worlds most famous textile, and probably also the
most intensively studied object in existence, but
how the image was formed on the cloth remains
unclear. Crucial evidence however may have been
destroyed in a restoration conducted in the sum-
mer of 2002. Unlike the restoration of the Sistine
Chapel, over which there were sharply opposingviews on the composition of the original work, the
Shroud as an historical textile was well def ined
and the parameters of its on-going study quite
clear. This unfortunate event dramatically illus-
trates the need for close collaboration between
scientists, conservators/restorers and curators/
owners before initiating aggressive interventions
on important archaeological objects. It may also
become a classic illustration of things that shouldnot be done.
How It Happened
For the millions who believed the Shroud of Turin
might really be the burial cloth of Christ, October
13, 1988 was the turning point. The results of car-
bon dating a tiny sample from the edge of the linen
sheet were released, and they seemed definitive:
the date fell between 1260 and 1390 AD. For the
academic world and the public at large, the relic
In 2002 the Shroud of Turin was subjected to a radical intervention aimed at ridding the relic of carbon
dust and charred material said to pose a serious threat to the image. Patches that were applied in 1534
to cover holes from fire damage were removed. Vacuuming was done of portions of both sides, and
other remedial measures were taken to optimise the appearance of the relic. This aggressive operation
was in stark contrast with modern precepts of conservation, and resulted in important scientific data
and heritage features being lost, along with great opportunities for sophisticated testing and
sampling. The long-term negative impact of the intervention is feared to be substantial; the underlying
premise, that the image was threatened, has been shown to be false.
Figure 1. The Shroud image. The frontal image on the Shroud
as first photographed in 1898. All rights reserved.
THE RESTORATION OF THE TURIN SHROUD
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was deemed to be a fake from the Middle Ages, al-
beit a very strange one. Despite thousands of hours
of scientific study, its image remained unexplained
and was the subject of continuing controversy.
In Italy, the general reaction was quite different;
most people questioned the carbon dating method
rather than the relic. Doubts were widely expressed
about its reliability for this particular object. Many
felt that its constant handling and exposure in
churches would invalidate a carbon measurement;
others felt the resurrection might have altered
the Shroud's chemistry. Some even proposed abizarre conspiracy theory, that a British Museum
off icial had switched samples in order to discredit
the Shroud [1]. The then archbishop of Turin,
Cardinal Anastasio Ballestrero, and his science
adviser were crucified in the media for officially
accepting the date, while maintaining at a press
conference announcing the test results that the
Shroud was still a mystery and a precious icon that
should inspire reverence. Their uncritical accept-ance of the date made it appear that the Church
now believed that its Holy Shroud was a medieval
forgery.
The furor in Italy led Ballestrero to take early re-
tirement the next year. His successor, Cardinal
Giovanni Saldarini, declared that conservation
would be the priority. He asked researchers to
be patient, a term readily understood to meanthat no new scientific studies would be approved
for the foreseeable future. Indeed, none have been
authorized up to the present. Saldarini brought
together a group of five textile experts to advise
on conservation, and this group was later formal-
ized as the Conservation Commission. It began
to address issues related to the optimum preser-
vation of the cloth, one of the most important
being how to protect it from Turin's air pollution.
A few positive changes were made to the storage
conditions, notably that the cloth would be kept
flat instead of rolled on a spool, and it would be
kept at constant temperature and humidity in an
atmosphere of inert gas, with less than 1% oxygen.
A long flat case was specially constructed for this
purpose.
However, the Commission was quietly evolving into
something very different, and was heading towardscalamity. By 2000 only one of the five textile ex-
perts remained, and its membership now included
several Turinese dignitaries and was chaired by a
senior priest in the archdiocese, Mons. Ghiberti.
An admixture of good intentions, opportunism and
machiavellian scheming would soon lead the Com-
mission down a very different path from that of
passive preservation favoured by most modern
conservators for very important objects. In a high
and deeply regrettable irony, this Conservation
Commission would wreak havoc on the Shroud.
Figure 2. Shroud Face. Negative of the facial image.
All rights reserved.
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A new archbishop of Turin was appointed in 1999.
Cardinal Severino Poletto is an outgoing and af-
fable man, with mediocre educational background.
I first met him at a conference of world experts
sponsored by the Turin archdiocese in March,
2000, at a villa outside the city. I came away with
the strong feeling that Poletto was dynamic and
we would soon see further testing of the cloth,
particularly a second round of carbon dating.
Never in a million years could I or anyone else
involved with the Shroud have imagined what
was to come.
The truly memorable moment during this confer-
ence was a visit to the Turin Cathedral. Poletto met
us in the nave and ushered us into a sideroom. It
was a heart-stopping moment. There, mounted
on a long board at eye level was the famous relic,
free of its usual glass display case, and naturally
lit from windows high up in the room. A red velvet
cordon about three feet away was all that separated
us from the relic. My attention shifted back andforth between the bloodstains and the fainter body
image, as archaeological and historical curiosity
about this intriguing object intermingled with
feelings of awe.
This contemplation was interrupted after a while
when Poletto and a gaggle of people around him
moved up to the cordon. Suddenly, a flash bulb
went off and I turned around to see a fellow in abaggy suit holding an old-fashioned press camera
with large flash attachment. Horrified, I went over
to Prof. Alan Adler, the only American member of
the Conservation Commission, and asked him how
in the world they could be using flash photography.
He shrugged his shoulders, saying it was the of-
ficial archdiocese photographer. I asked him to
try to stop it, but he replied there was no way he
was going to interfere, as this viewing was very
special. It was surprising that this s imple issue
had not been considered beforehand and did not
seem to bother anyone else. A tripod-mounted
camera and fast film would have given perfectly
good photographs without the use of a flash, and
would have spared the cloth that extra unneces-
sary exposure to light.
Worse was to come. A delegate was energetically
pointing out some feature on the Shroud to Poletto,
and they both stepped over the cordon to get a
closer view. The delegate suddenly pulled out his
ballpoint pen and pointed at the feature. The tip
of the pen was less than an inch away from the
surface of the cloth. Aghast, I started to intervene,when he lowered the pen. Several other people
were watching the proceedings, and no one seemed
bothered by the fact that a possible ink stain had
been a slight tremble away. When it is recalled that
many archives do not even allow ink pens of any
kind to be brought inside, one can only shudder
at how poor the state of conservation awareness
was in Turin.
Yet another conservation issue was raised by Amer-
ican scientist John Jackson after the visit. He had
a particular interest in the old creases and fold-
mark patterns (as he calls them) preserved on
the Shroud, and he was very upset over how the
cloth was stretched on the board. It was so taut
that hardly any of the creases could be seen. He
raised the issue at the final plenary session of
the congress, saying: I can state that storingthe Shroud in this condition for a long period of
time will destroy forever the precious fold mark
pattern, if it has not already done so. The response
from Commission members was that the mounting
on the board was only a temporary arrangement.
This apparently was not true. In an article published
later by the same individuals it was stated that,
unlike in the past the Shroud was [now] stretched
and fixed in a practically definitive position [2].
In retrospect, these conservation issues were very
bad omens.
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The Shroud has been restored
Indeed, a major catastrophe was about to befall
the Shroud. Totally unbeknownst to anyone out-
side a small circle in Turin, an aggressive, invasive
operation officially termed a restoration was
being planned. The work was finally carried out
in secret during June and July of 2002. But word
leaked out, and in August a Rome newspaper ran
a story by its Vatican reporter that the Shroud had
undergone a radical intervention [3]. As details
emerged from the Turin archdiocese, it was con-
firmed that patches covering the 1532 fire damageand a backing cloth added at that time had been
removed, and dusts and residues had been cleared
away. People were shocked, unable to believe that
such an invasive procedure could have been allowed
to take place, since there had been so much em-
phasis in recent decades on the need for non-in-
trusive, non-destructive testing.
While very little of this news was carried by inter-national agencies, the press in Italy was buzzing
with stories, speculation and debate about what
had been done to the Shroud. A very senior politi-
cal and academic figure, Francesco Sisinni, wrote
an important piece asking: Did this important
object, on whose material and historical authen-
ticity scholars from every part of the world have
worked tirelessly, and, above all, in front of which
millions of faithful from all over the world havekneeled, really need to have undergone such a
massive intervention?[4]. Turin was clearly on
the defensive, and announced that all would be
explained at a press conference in mid-September,
at which time photographs of the restored Shroud
would be available.
Jackson circulated an email with very powerful
criticisms, pointing out thatit is essential that
scientific information resident on the Shroud be
preserved. The only people qualified to knowwhat
that information is are people who have spent
years, if not their lifetimes, thinking about the
Shroud in a scientific sense. It was increasingly
clear that there had been no outside consultation
or peer review of this intervention. An American
textile chemist and original member of the Conser-
vation Commission, Jan Cardamone, was surprised
and shocked at the news. Textile conservator Sheila
Landi of England, also an originalmember of the
Commission, had the same reaction. Even two tex-
tile specialists resident in Turin and well acquainted
with the Shroud were not consulted.
It transpired that the one textile expert left on the
Commission was the person who had carried out
the work. Rumor had it that she and Ghiberti had
become the dominant force within the Commission.
According to Landi, who attended several meet-
ings in the 1990s, the atmosphere was character-
ized increasingly by manipulation: All they wanted
was people who said what they wanted to hear
[5]. This led to Landi's decision to withdraw in1997. Jan Cardamone remained available but was
not invited to attend further meetings. It is not
clear what happened to the two Italian textile
conservators, but by 1999 the Swiss Mechthild
Flury-Lemberg was the only textile expert left in
the group. This may have been as in the Chinese
saying, one mountain can only have one tiger.
Other individuals with close links to the inner cir-
cle around Poletto were recruited onto the Com-mission, from fields totally unrelated to textiles
or conservation.
Flury-Lemberg is a soft spoken woman, and an old-
style restorer with a Teutonic inclination for neat-
ness. It is unclear to what degree she persuaded
others of the need for restoration, but one ob-
server remarked that it was a good thing that there
was no articulate dry cleaner on the Commission.
She believed in her methods, of course, and a large
portion of responsibility lies with the other mem-
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34 e-conservation
visitors, photographers, teams of technicians and
TV crews trooped through; the cloth was illumi-
nated by lamps without filters, shining for long
periods directly on the cloth at close range; the
relic was subjected to considerable stresses in the
removal of patches and backing cloth, and addition
of a new backing cloth. Furthermore, the operation
was not a true restoration back to original either,
but a series of radical, invasive alterations and
cleaning operations for cosmetic and misinformed
conservation purposes.
Even if the cloth were a proven medieval relic, withno image at all, the 1534 repairs should have been
retained. Flury-Lemberg commented on this issue
in very strange terms: The conservation [work] of
the poor Clare sisters from 1534 is certainly of his-
torical interest and therefore needs to be analysed
and noted for future research, but it does not present
a value in its own right. The same is true for the con-
servation measures of 2002. [7]
It is very surprising to have repairs nearly five hun-
dred years old equated with those done a few years
ago. The patches and backing cloth were visible
elements of a rich heritage that had intrinsic value
as part of the history and commonly recognized
identity of the relic. It was recorded that the nuns
carried out the mending of the precious relic after
the fire of 1532 with great reverence and care,
praying as they worked. Old additions to or repairsof an object become part of the object to be pre-
served unless 1) they pose a definite threat to it,
or 2) they seriously detract from the appreciation
of the original. There would be little disagreement
among conservators on this point. It would be a
very foolish conservator who would erase medieval
graffiti from a Roman temple in the name of return
to the original. Even on cosmetic criteria, reten-
tion of the patches would have been sensible; Flury-
Lemberg herself wrote that the patches covered
big ugly holes left by the fire. [7]
The argument has been made before that even with
a backing cloth on the Shroud it was hazardous to
mount the relic in a vertical position for display.
As the Shroud is now stored laid out flat in a glass
case, this would also be the best manner to ex-
hibit it according to Cardamone, i.e. with observers
moving around it in small groups, or on a walkway
above it. To remove the existing backing cloth only
to replace it with another seems to be the height
of folly, and no real advance on the repair work
of 1534. Further, the whiteness of this new lining
detracts from the image. The eye is struck by the
stark contrast of white spots (lining visible throughthe holes) on straw coloured ground (the Shroud)
that makes the sepia body image seem even more
faint. To compare the Shroud before and after, see
www.shroud.com/examine.htm.
In the months following the unveiling, a consensus
of critique took shape. The main points were:
1) that the patches had been piously sewn on 450
years ago (according to legend the nuns who sewedthem used golden needles and maintained constant
prayer during the work) and thus constituted part
of the Shroud's heritage;
2) that scientific data had been lost due to poor
planning and/or ignorance;
3) that opportunities for sophisticated scientific
research were squandered; and
4) that great stresses were put on the cloth during
the month-long handling, unstitching and re-stitching, and exposure to lights.
In 2003, comments from prominent Shroud re-
searchers began to be posted on www.shroud.com/
restored.htm, and most were scathing. Ray Rogers,
a nationally prominent chemist formerly with Los
Alamos National Laboratory, declared as a result
of the restoration... a large amount of potentially
critical information has been lost forever. Paul
Maloney, archaeologist, stated his virtual certainty
that the restoration was unnecessary. Dr. Frederick
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Zugibe, former Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland
County NY, expressed chagrin that the restorers did
not wear gloves and dust-free clothing. In an email
Rogers stated he believed that the action would
go down in history as Polettos desecration.
Flury-Lemberg [7] published a coffee table book
about the work in which a spirited defence was
mounted, claiming that the Shroud was threatened
by a process of progressive weakening and loss
around the charred areas, and by oxidation due to
the carbon dust particles spreading through the
cloth. The problem for these claims was that thechemical processes she feared were unknown to
science [8]. And the extensive photographic record
since 1898 did not reveal one iota of evidence for
any loss of fabric around the char. Such claims
would not have survived the standard procedure of
evaluation by peer review, but this was not done
since the plan to conduct radical surgery on the relic
had been kept a jealously guarded secret.
Data Lost
Ever since the first scientific examination of the
Shroud in 1933, there has been a great and entirely
proper emphasis on non-invasive techniques. Mod-
ern conservation shares this emphasis, as noted
above, and for important archaeological objects
there would be extreme reluctance to employ in-
vasive methods, e.g. for cleaning, that would put
information at risk. Ideally, there should be close
collaboration between the archaeologist or mu-
seum curator and the conservator. In the case of
the Shroud, this should have meant direct con-sultation with the experts from various fields who
have studied the cloth and know the types of data
it contains, and most importantly, how this data
needs to be collected, extracted or preserved.
Savarino stated at the unveiling in Turin that noth-
ing was lost or thrown away, everything was kept.
I tried in the space of about two minutes to ex-
Figure 4. Vacuuming. Vacuuming of dirt and carbon dust. (photo courtesy of Telesubalpina TV, all rights reserved).
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plain to him why it is not simply retaining every
particle of debris and dust that is important, but
it is above all the structure of the evidence that
must not be lost, and that the manner in which
samples are collected is vital. It would be useless
for example to present an archaeologist with all the
objects from a site in a giant bag, with all stratigra-
phic and contextual information lost. During this
restoration of the Shroud we are told that the
debris and dust was collected and saved in more
than 30 glass containers. This makes it clear that
a tremendous amount of information has been lost,
since all 25 burn holes under the patches plus thefour sets of poker holes were scraped and vacu-
umed, front and back. There should have been se-
veral hundred divisions of this material for rigor-
ous study.
To cite an example, pollen from the Middle East
has been identified from the Shroud, apparently
in small clusters, but previous collection techniques
have been faulty. Other particulate material plantand insect debris, traces of natron, aloes, etc.
has also been identified as important for study.
And yet, the vacuuming was done all around the
edges of the burn holes, with no microscopic search
of the areas carried out beforehand. Micro-remains
that could have been identified and extracted by
micromanipulator with precise provenance were
instead aspirated into the container along with
all the other debris from that general area.
Worse still is the destruction of the charred edges
of the burn holes. Here the structure of evidence
is crucial, and it was deliberately reduced to fluff.
The Commission was said to have decided that no
cutting would take place, and this would have
moderated somewhat the loss of data if that de-
cision had been strictly adhered to, and only loose
particles were aspirated away. It was thus shock-ing to discover that intact segments between small
holes or around the edges of larger holes had gone.
Ghiberti wrote: Cutting away the charred parts to
get back to the undamaged cloth would have pro-
duced an unnatural and devastating effect. It was
decided to use tweezers to remove material which
tended to give way when pulled and to reach the
brownish borders ... [9]
This is a new method for preserving ancient textiles
material which tends to give way when pulled
is removed! A photograph in Flury-Lembergs book
shows a scraping tool lying beside a pile of tiny bits
of charred f ibre in front of the brownish border
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Figure 5 a, b and c. Before and After. On the lef t are X-rays taken in 1978, showing the burnholes under three of the patches.
On the right are the shapes of the holes after 'restoration' (X-rays courtesy of William Mottern, all rights reserved).
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Figure 6. Pokerholes in 1978. The uppermost set of pokerholes as photographed in 1978 (copyright Barrie
Schwortz, all rights reserved).
Figure 7. The uppermost set of 'pokerholes' being