Abstract
The Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia “Leonardo da Vinci” in Milan is exposing two pairs of canal lock gates, used to control the water flow in Milan canal system, whose design appears in the Leonardo’s Codex Atlanticus. The wood present in the gates has been deeply characterised by mean of a multidisciplinary investigation involving i) DNA barcoding of wood fragments; ii) microbial community characterisation, and iii) chemical analyses. DNA barcoding revealed that two fragments of the gates belonged to wood species widely used in the middle age: Fagus sylvatica and Picea abies. The chemical characterisations were based on the use of ionic liquid as dissolving medium in order to analyse the entire cell wall material by means of Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and 2D-NMR-HSQC techniques. This multidisciplinary analytical approach was able to highlight the complex nature of the degradation occurred during the gate operation (XVI-XVIII centuries): an intricate interplay between microbial populations (i.e. Shewanella), inorganic factors (i.e. iron from nails), physical factors and the lignocellulosic material.
Highlights
IntroductionA diagnostic campaign funded by “Regione Lombarida” was realized with the goal to achieve useful information on the conservation conditions and historical data of two canal lock gates [1]
A diagnostic campaign funded by “Regione Lombarida” was realized with the goal to achieve useful information on the conservation conditions and historical data of two canal lock gates [1]. Those two pairs of lock gates, whose design appears in the Leonardo da Vinci Codex Atlanticus, were used to control the water flow in Milan canal system during the XVI-XVIII centuries and were removed in XX century from San Marco and Cassina di Pomm locks (Milan)
The multidisciplinary analytical approach, based on barcoding of wood fragments, microbial community study and chemical analyses, was able to highlight the complex history of the canal lock gates (XVI-XVIII centuries)
Summary
A diagnostic campaign funded by “Regione Lombarida” was realized with the goal to achieve useful information on the conservation conditions and historical data of two canal lock gates [1]. Those two pairs of lock gates, whose design appears in the Leonardo da Vinci Codex Atlanticus, were used to control the water flow in Milan canal system during the XVI-XVIII centuries and were removed in XX century from San Marco and Cassina di Pomm locks (Milan). It is well known that waterlogged woods are artefacts that represent a conservation challenge still far to be solved, due to the complex
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