An integrated approach for conservation of cultural heritage wall paintings

The preservation of cultural heritage (CH) is the only way to effectively transfer it to future generations. Given its importance, the key for a successful preservation of historical materials is a multidisciplinary approach to conservation issues, acquiring great number of steps, from fundamental understanding of CH and its condition to appropriate choice and implementation of conservation interventions needed. In order to ensure the future of CH, validation of the effectiveness of conservation interventions needs to be performed, as well as long-term monitoring of the CH itself. Wall paintings represent one of the most important types of CH. Particularly prone to decay are thee decorating architectural façades, since they suffer direct exposure to environmental conditions. Digital documentation can significantly improve the understanding of their present state, as well as planning of their preservation, maintenance, presentation and promotion. Advanced techniques can be particularly useful to provide an overall assessment of the whole investigated surface, which can be profitably used to identify those specific areas in which further analytical measurements, sampling or laboratory analysis are needed or conservation treatments required. In addition, use of optimised analytical tools is highly desirable in the development of new materials for conservation (such as the new cleaning and consolidation procedures presented in the project) as they can be used to monitor the condition of CH after interventions. Such scientific approaches are highly encouraged since the long-term effectiveness of novel treatments is still unexplored. In the proposed research project we will focus on the integrated approach for conservation of wall paintings, by (a) using advanced non-invasive equipment (using drones) for evaluating the condition of historic materials as well as monitoring the effectiveness of conservation interventions, (b) beyond state of the art approach to the cleaning of wall paintings with integration of computer modelling, and (c) development of novel effective consolidation procedure with assessment of the stability of developed consolidation system in outdoor environment. We will systematically test and optimize selected traditional and advanced systems for cleaning of wall paintings in order to improve control, selectivity, minimal risk and cost efficiency. Special focus will be put on the development of an analytical approach to objectively assess cleaning systems, tests and treatments, with emphasis on the optimisation of non-invasive analytical tools. Introduction of the chemical modelling and molecular simulations of interactions of selected cleaning and CH materials will further enhance understanding of cleaning treatments. In the field of consolidation, we will develop novel consolidation procedure using combination of two consolidants: commercially available dispersion of nanoparticles of Ca(OH)2 and water solution of calcium acetoacetate in order to enhance consolidation effectiveness. We will study the synergistic effect of using both consolidants in the same process and asses’ novel consolidation system regarding stability in outdoor environment. Developed solutions will be integrated into the comprehensive conservation process of wall paintings and demonstrated on the real case: wall paintings on the façade of the church of the Annunciation of Mary, Crngrob, Škofja Loka, Slovenia. Moreover, we will use drones to collect the data needed for 3D modelling to assess the condition of selected wall paintings and to monitor the effectiveness of the conservation interventions.