Abstract
Works of art are sensitive to environmental factors—mainly temperature and relative humidity—which, when stable, are generally recommended as ideal protection conditions, but in historical museum buildings, the required conditions are difficult to maintain, due to a lack of adequate heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. The paper presents the analysis of one-year measurements of temperature and relative humidity in three different museums in Poland. The aim of the research was to identify the risk to museum collections, due to unbalanced moisture loads and unstable indoor air temperatures, as well as to identify possible causes of fluctuations in these parameters. This article focuses on assessing the impact of variable external and internal loads on the hygrothermal parameters of indoor air. The profile of internal hygrothermal loads in exhibition halls varied over time, which resulted in a temporary variation of the indoor environmental parameters. The lack of appropriate systems, shaping the microclimate in the analyzed museums, and the lack of automatic control in existing devices did not allow to maintain the temperature and relative humidity within appropriate limits. In the museums, the maximum indoor temperature values were higher than those recommended in the requirements. Relative humidity values in all museums exceeded the recommended range both above and below.
Highlights
Inadequate internal environment conditions in museums are a major factor in the destruction of the collections stored in these institutions
Museums are often located in historical buildings
In moderate or cold climates heating systems which are used in museums are often simple installations, e.g., in Polish museums, these are typically high-temperature radiators, sometimes supplied with local control provided by thermostatic valves
Summary
Inadequate internal environment conditions in museums are a major factor in the destruction of the collections stored in these institutions. Museums are often located in historical buildings. This situation significantly complicates the maintenance of the indoor environment. The indoor environment in museums depends mainly on the heating system in the winter and on outdoor weather conditions in the summer [1]. Poor heating and ventilation systems do not provide the opportunity to obtain and maintain appropriate indoor microclimate conditions and pose a high risk of rapid ageing of museum exhibits. In such buildings, external climatic conditions have a great impact on the environmental parameter fluctuations. Studies by Camuffo [2] and Kozlowski et al [3,4,5] show that sudden and intense fluctuations in Energies 2020, 13, 344; doi:10.3390/en13020344 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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