Article 2

Abstract

The conservation of stone in the scientific aspect became the subject of research in the nineteenth century, when the foundations of the theory of conservation of monuments, today more widely understood as the protection of cultural her-itage, were laid. Since then, in spite of many projects, publications and even patents, the issue of stone conservation is still open and the research continues. The significance of the issue is evidenced by rich volumes of conference materials from The Inte-rnational Congresses on Deterioration and Conservation of Stone, held every 4 years. The materials from these confe-rences are available on the ISCS-ICOMOS website (http://iscs.icomos.org). The aim of this work is to familiarize the readers with many years of experience of the so-called Polish school of conservation of monuments in the field of conservation of stone monuments. The causes of deterioration, the basic principles of conservation and the methods used in individual stages of conservation and restoration work on stone sculpture and architectural detail will be discussed.