Restoration Of Cultural Heritage Research Articles

3D Reconstruction & Traditional Illustrations, a Non-invasive Resource for the Practice and Teaching of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage

Photogrammetry is the practice of determining the geometric properties of objects from pictures. Currently there are several techniques of photogrammetry, both in two and three dimensions that can also be used with video instead of images [1]. This paper seeks to bring traditional reconstruction techniques (through technical illustration) with new photogrammetric techniques focusing on Altarpieces restoring. Combining both we will obtain greater operability when watching and intervening the work, because such intervention will have been evaluated and supervised by a multidisciplinary team that will have contributed to the project design.

LASER SCANNER SURVEY TO CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION

Abstract. The field of Cultural Heritage has inspired, in the course of last few years, an interest more and more important on behalf of scientific community that deals to survey. The idea that knowledge of a site doesn't apply only to its history but must necessarily include its characteristics of position, shape and geometry, is gathering pace. In Geomatic science the field of cultural heritage benefits to an integrated approach of techniques and different technologies. Every cultural site in fact, is a case in itself, with its own characteristics, problems and specificness. Current techniques offer opportunity to achieve new ways of representation and visualization of cultural site, with the aim of a better metric description. This techniques are powerful tools for analysis of sites and supports to activity of reconstruction and repair. Biggest expectations in this field is laser three-dimensional scanning technique; a system which is able to operate in a methodical way in speed of acquisition and in possibility to access data in real time. Documentation and filing of state of a monument or site is essential in case of reconstruction or conservative project. Possibility to detect very complex geometries with great accuracy allows an in depth study of constructive techniques, making analysis of geometrical details easier which is, with traditional techniques, difficult to achieve. Biggest problems about use of laser scanner survey are graphic outputs for restorers and architects, in fact they often don't know real potential of this techniques, methodologies and functionalities and they expect traditional outputs such as floor plans, cross sections and front elevation of cultural asset. Present study is focused on finding a workflow to support activity of study, restoration and conservative project of cultural heritage, extracting automatically (or with a limited manual operation) graphic outputs from laser scanner survey. Some procedure was tested on two case study the Siviller Castle (XV century), situated in Villasor, a city near Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy) and the tower bell of Mores, near Sassari (Sardinia, Italy). The cultural sites were surveyed with laser scanner Focus 3D by Faro and to process clouds point we were used the JRC 3D Reconstructor software

Soundscape variation in a historical city centre due to new traffic regulation

In recent years the number of candidate historic city centers to be included in the World Heritage List is increasing. This inclusion must be supported by a Management Plan programming all intervention to be implemented for the preservation of the “outstanding universal value”. So far the Management Plans do not consider the preservation and valorization of the soundscape. Consequently, urban renewal processes are based on conservation and restoration of tangible cultural heritage, in order to increase touristic attraction and to improve the quality of life. All these efforts privilege visual perception and do not take in account the auditory perception. Soundscape of a site can be considered an intangible cultural heritage to be preserved and valorized as it constitutes a peculiar characteristic of the place. It makes the place recognizable and attractive. Recently the historic centre of Naples (Italy), as World Heritage Site, has been under renewal and for sustainable mobility the largest restricted traffic area (ZTL) in Europe has been introduced. The results of soundwalks carried out in the historic center of Naples before and after the implementation of ZTL are presented. The variations of acoustical and other environmental parameters influencing the subjective perception of environmental quality are analyzed.

Virtual restoration of faces appearing in byzantine icons

Abstract Virtual restoration of cultural heritage (CH) artefacts is an important task that aims to digitally recreate the original appearance of damaged items. In this paper, a method that can be used for virtual restoration of faces appearing in damaged Byzantine icons is presented. Given a damaged face, the complete three-dimensional (3D) geometry of the face is reconstructed using data from the non-damaged facial parts and the texture of the damaged areas is restored. A key aspect of the proposed method is the use of a customized 3D deformable face model suitable for representing the geometry of Byzantine faces, the so-called Byzantine Style Specific Model (BSSM). A BSSM is generated by enforcing rule-based constraints on a deformable model trained using 3D scans of human faces. The use of a BSSM ensures that the Byzantine style is preserved during the process of shape restoration.

Cleaning Pictorial Heritage Management and Dissemination of Cleaning Records and Stratigraphic Data

At present, the process of documentation can be considered the cornerstone of the different tasks within the field of conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. However, this is not the case with cleaning. Despite its importance in the conservation of pictorial heritage, little effort has been made to improve the management and dissemination of information. Cleaning is one of the most usual procedures, yet, at the same time, it is also one of the most problematic and controversial. Therefore, it would be very useful that the information generated by cleaning could be widely disseminated and serve as reference for researchers and conservators around the world. When a conservator carries out a cleaning operation on a painting, two kinds of interrelated data are produced: stratigraphic data and cleaning records. Stratigraphic data are those concerning the configuration and composition of the stratigraphic structure on which the cleaning is carried out. Cleaning records gather together data concerning the actual cleaning process. All this information is key for conservators when working on other paintings. The information published is usually insufficient to understand how the intervention was carried out, so there is a need for standardized systems which allow a great deal of information to be gathered and disseminated with ease. This paper explains a selection of proposals, some of which are already in use, and others which are being developed: stratigraphic unit recording sheets, solubility test recording sheets and stratigraphic diagrams.

Open innovation in city of art: The case of laser technologies for conservation in Florence

The field of laser application for the cleaning and restoration of cultural assets is thriving. Ablative-laser technological systems can clean and protect inestimable works of art that are subject to atmospheric agents and degradation over time. This new technology, which has been in development during the last forty years, is now available to restorers and has achieved success for restoration efforts across Europe. In the continuing evolution of the use of lasers for restoration of cultural assets, one important example of innovation is taking place in Florence. Local actors who belong to a creative cluster are engaged in this effort. The objects of our analysis are to detail the genesis of this innovation in the local Florentine context, and to analyse the relationships among the main actors who have contributed in it. This study investigates how culture can play a part in the generation of ideas and innovations, and what types of creative environments favour this generation. In this context, the issue of laser technologies for the restoration of cultural heritage has been analysed as a case of ‘open innovation in creative public space’, such as city of art.

Uso de escáner láser 3D para el registro del estado previo a la intervención de la Fuente de los Leones de La Alhambra

<p>In the process of restoration and conservation of cultural heritage it’s necessary to use all available techniques that can contribute to a suitable knowledge of the process. In this paper we present the use of the 3D laser scanner for documenting the state of the Fuente de los Leones of the Alhambra, previous to the interventions of restoration that are being carried out at the moment. First, we present the classic techniques used for the graphical registry of the activities, describing how they have been used until now. Then, we describes the new process implanted with the use of the laser scanner, and show some results obtained. Finally, we describe some of the applications for which we plan to use the obtained models.</p>

An experience curve-based decision support model for prioritizing restoration needs of cultural heritage

Abstract Today's restoration and preservation of cultural heritage is an important task because of its historical significance, symbolism, and economic benefits. Decision makers or executors often encounter with taking decisions on which heritage is prioritized to be restored within the limited budget. However, very few tools are available to determine appropriately restoration priorities for the diverse historical heritages, perhaps because of a lack of systematized decision-making aids. This paper proposes an alternative decision support model to prioritize restoration needs within the executable budget. The model is constructed on stochastic analytic hierarchy process (S-AHP) and knowledge-based experience curve (EC); the former requires the input data to be random variables for interpreting probabilistically the ranks of the prioritized heritages and the latter reflects quantitatively the contribution of experts’ knowledge to weighting significant criteria in carrying out an assessment of restoration urgency. The application of 14 cultural heritages in Korea has been conducted, and the results are analyzed to illustrate the model's efficiency.

INVESTIGATING MATERIAL DECAY OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS USING VISUAL ANALYTICS WITH MULTI‐TEMPORAL INFRARED THERMOGRAPHIC DATA

This paper shows how visual analytics methodology can be used to facilitate interpretation of multi‐temporal thermographic imagery for the purpose of restoration of cultural heritage. We explore thermographic data in a visual environment from the unifying spatio‐temporal perspective in an attempt to identify spatial and spatio‐temporal patterns that could provide information about the structure and the level of decay of the material, and the presence of other physical phenomena in the wall. The approach is tested on a thermographic dataset captured on the façade of a Romanesque building from the 13th century—the Cathedral in Matera (Italy).

Ecr – estudos de conservação e restauro

The ecr Journal aims to disseminate scientific work done in the field of conservation and restoration of cultural heritage. We expect it to become a useful platform for researchers, not just from the School of Arts of the Portuguese Catholic University and its Research Center (CITAR), but from other national and international research centers as well. A newcomer in the Portuguese academic scene, our field of study is nevertheless gaining momentum thanks to the current raise of research produc...

ICCROM and italy

Italy takes part in international discussions on conservation and the restoration of cultural heritage. But the starting‐point is the history of art, in its broadest sense – from architecture to archaeology to the so‐called ‘minor arts’. The art critic/historian, who identifies the context in which the cultural object is born and where it is preserved, is at the root of the modern‐day concept of restoration, founded on the idea of respect even for that with which one is unfamiliar. In this domain ICCROM and ICR find common ground for points of contact and collaboration.

Restoration of cultural heritage: evaluation of the compatibility between metals and sealing products

When restoring historical monuments, it is often verified that reinforcements, mostly made of ferrous alloys, are in quite a bad state and must be partially or totally replaced to prevent further degradation or accidents. Modern alloys such as stainless steels are increasingly used for such purpose, which raises the open question concerning their compatibility with the new types of sealing products available on the market. Even though it is not possible to use accelerated tests to give a livelong guarantee of adequacy of materials combination, electrochemical tests of metals in an aqueous extract of the sealing products could be used as screening to rapidly identify situations that would conduce to the premature corrosion of the metal.

Mapping Highly Detailed Colour Information on Extremely Dense 3D Models: The Case of David's Restoration

Abstract The support of advanced information technology (IT) to preservation, restoration and documentation of Cultural Heritage (CH) is becoming a very important goal for the research community. Michelangelo's David was one of the first applications of 3D scanning technology on a highly popular work of art. The subsequent restoration campaign, started in 2002 and concluded in 2004, was also a milestone for the adoption of modern scientific analysis procedures and IT tools in the framework of a restoration process. One of the focuses in this restoration was also methodological, i.e. to plan and adopt innovative ways to document the restoration process. In this paper, we present the results of an integration of different restoration data (2D and 3D datasets) which has been concluded recently. The recent evolution of HW and SW graphics technologies gave us the possibility to interactively visualize an extremely dense 3D model which incorporates the colour information provided by two professional photographic campaigns, made before and after the restoration. Moreover, we present the results concerning the mapping, in this case on the 2D media, of the reliefs produced by restorers to assess and document the status of the marble surface before the restoration took place. This result could lead to new and fascinating applications of computer graphics for preservation, restoration and documentation of CH.

Transformation in calcium carbonate stones: some examples

Alteration and decay of cultural heritage are caused by natural and anthropogenic factors, involving physical, chemical and biological phenomena. Deterioration processes often occur by means of phase transitions, most of which require months, years or also centuries to take place. This work is focused on phase transitions of marble monuments: main alteration processes of calcite are reviewed, including sulphation (and related crust formation), photochemical smog, oxalate patina and airborne sea-salts impact. Beside real case studies, experiments carried out at laboratory scale are proposed to predict material durability. Particular attention has been given to X-ray diffraction as one of the main characterization techniques, which represent a crucial step in cultural heritage conservation and restoration.

Mejoramiento habitacional en las áreas urbanas centrales de América Latina. Del combate de tugurios a la rehabilitación habitacional progresiva

This article shows a wide range of housing experiences in the old central urban areas, which has been done in different Latin American cities in the recent years, stressing their innovations and limits. The paper analyzes the central urban areas problems, territories that have undergone tertiary activities expansion; housing and population lost; physical and social deterioration; simultaneously underwent a social and urban segregation process as well as a selective cultural heritage restoration process. The article presents a group of housing projects and initiatives, which started in the mid 80’s in different Latin America Cities, that have tried to address slums problems; inhabitants quality life improvements; preserving the urban and architectural heritage; and in some cases reverting the central areas depopulation tendencies and urban sprawl in the cities’ periphery. The ones discuss: 1. Pilot housing rehabilitation projects, 2. Some pioneering housing projects, 3. Densifi cation housing projects, 4. Emergent housing projects, and 5. housing recuperation projects. Concluding with some thoughts about advances and challenges involved in the central areas housing problems in the region.

Non-destructive assessment of a buried rainwater cistern at the Carthusian Monastery ‘Vall de Crist’ (Spain, 14th century) derived by microgravimetric 2D modelling

Abstract The microgravity method is one of the geophysical tools used in engineering and environmental and archaeological researches, where the detection of subsurface cavities or buried structures is essential. In this study, this technique has been revealed to be an efficient and respectful tool for use in Cultural Heritage restoration studies, such as those carried out in the restoration of historical sites in which the elements to be examined are beneath a shallow coating of material. Therefore, the aim of this microgravimetric survey is to define the exact position and dimensions of a subsurface structure (rainwater cistern) through microgravity response of the medium. For this purpose, the subsurface structure of San Geronimo Cloister of the Vall de Crist Carthursian Monastery (14th century) has been researched. This monastery was known to be the largest Carthusian Monastery in the region of Valencia (Spain) and one of the most remarkable of the ancient Corona de Aragon . A rectangular grid of microgravity measurement station points was designed to cover the entire surface of the cloister. In addition, a microgravimetric profile was acquired along a hillside close to the Carthusian buildings in order to obtain the density value of the medium. The study was performed using a LaCoste&Romberg D203 gravimeter to detect and to map the shallow subsurface rainwater cistern that probably exits beneath it. This gravimeter has a sensitivity of approximately 1 μgal (μgal = 1.10 −8 ms −2 ) and an accuracy of 3–5 μgal for relative gravity measurements. Two contour maps were calculated (observed gravity and Bouguer gravity values) in order to improve the interpretation results. On these maps we can observe the shape of the body that is causing the perturbation in gravity values. And what is more, it led us to deduce that the central area of the cavity is deeper than the border area. In addition, we can asses that the cavity is 8 m wide and 12 m long, and is symmetrical along its longitudinal axis, but not along its transversal axis. Also, a microgravimetric inversion was performed and the subsurface is split into 7 prisms and the depth and height of each is to be estimated separately. As a result of this inversion we can estimate that the ceiling of the cistern is located about 1 m under the cloister pavement and the cistern floor at a depth of 4 m. The cistern is slightly inclined towards one of its edges by about 20 cm. Finally, the 2D modelling derived by microgravimetric data has allowed us to determinate the shape, dimensions and location of the cistern accurately. In addition we have calculated the cistern capacity (288 m 3 , that is, 2880 Hl). This capacity was quite enough for the water necessities of 13 monks who lived there permanently, even for making it through the drought periods frequent in this kind of Mediterranean areas.

GPR investigations for the study and the restoration of the rose window of Troia Cathedral (southern Italy)

ABSTRACTThe development of cracks and distortions caused by past seismic events compromised the integrity of the rose window of Troia Cathedral, one of the most precious Romanesque monuments in southern Italy. Ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) using high‐frequency antennae (mainly 1500 MHz) was selected from among various non‐destructive testing methods for its high‐resolution imaging to scan the internal structure of the various architectural elements of the wheel window: the decimetre‐diameter columns constituting the rays, the ring decorated with intersecting arched ribwork and the surrounding circular ashlar curb. GPR was employed in the classical continuous reflection mode, moving the antennae manually along the architectural elements and paying exceptional care in the acquisition and processing stages to avoid positioning errors. Indeed, the challenging aspects of this case study were the geometrical complexity and small dimensions of the structural elements, causing many logistic/coupling problems. In spite of this, through proper interpretation techniques, based on signal analysis (presence of reflections and diffractions, velocity and attenuation variations) and correlation with features detected by visual inspection of the external surfaces, the GPR survey provided useful information on the internal structure of the rose window, detecting fractures and the boundaries of previously restored parts and locating hidden metallic components connecting the architectural elements. Information on the internal structure and spatial distribution of metallic junctions was essential for gaining insight into building techniques in order to discriminate between restoration strategies which may require either total or partial dismantling of the rose window. GPR results provided crucial evidence in favour of one of the (conflicting) hypotheses about the original building techniques, leading to the selection of partial dismantling as the most suitable restoration strategy. Analysis of measurements revealed the potential of GPR in the field of cultural heritage restoration, even in those cases characterized by complex geometry, structural brittleness and logistic difficulties, such as that discussed in this paper.

Historical materials from the medieval fortress Bac

Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage are the objects of great interest worldwide. For setting the correct methodology for the procedures of the restoration it is very important to have the right information about the state of the object and the characteristics of the original materials. The basis of our examinations were clay products (samples of bricks, terracotta and clay roof tile) from the middle ages, the fortress in Bac. The following methods were used: x-ray diffraction, classic chemical analysis, SEM-EDS, Hg-porosimetry and dilatometry. Based on the used methods, mineral composition, temperature and regime of firing and textural properties of the examined materials were determined. The degree of destruction of examined materials was also identified, in order to find compatible materials for future techniques of conservation and restoration.

GPR technique as a tool for cultural heritage restoration: San Miguel de los Reyes Hieronymite Monastery, 16th century (Valencia, Spain)

Abstract This paper describes GPR (ground penetrating radar) surveys performed inside the crypt of the San Miguel de los Reyes Monastery (1546–1835) in order to detect the exact location of its founders' remains, the Dukes of Calabria (16th century). This Monastery was erected to house their family mausoleum and the bodies of the founders were buried near the high altar of the church (1645). However, in the 18th century, the tombs were exhumed to provide them with a worthier burial site: the crypt below the high altar. There is no documentation specifying the exact location of the tombs inside the crypt. Therefore, in order to reveal the exact location of the tombs the GPR survey was conducted inside the crypt. In our specific study, the available historical documentation led us to suppose that the Dukes of Calabria's remains were inside their mausoleums. However, after having performed the GPR analysis, we discovered that the mausoleums were solid and not hollow. The project required data collection on four areas in the crypt: the altar crypt, the Fernando de Aragon mausoleum, the Germana de Foix mausoleum and the floor between the two mausoleums and the altar. In this study, we have processed the GPR records in three different ways: the radargrams were processed in a standard manner, a detailed spectral analysis of all anomalous areas was carried out, and finally a 3D representation was generated. After this complete analysis we concluded that the bodies were not located inside their mausoleums, because they were shown to be solid. Besides, a burial site was located in the crypt subsurface near the Germana de Foix mausoleum, in which four different elements could be identified. Two of them may well be the tombs of the Dukes of Calabria and the other two the tombs of the Germana de Foix sisters. The results obtained in this survey are a good example of GPR application as an efficient and respectful tool for use in Cultural Heritage restoration studies, providing it with a very useful technique for similar projects such as those carried out in the restoration of historical buildings and those in which the elements to be examined are beneath a shallow coating of material.

Soft and hard nanomaterials for restoration and conservation of cultural heritage.

In this review we report the most recent applications of nanotechnology to the conservation and restoration of the world's cultural heritage. Nanoparticles of humble calcium and magnesium hydroxide and carbonate can be used to restore and protect wall paints and to de-acidify paper and wood. We highlight the synthetic pathways that can be used to produce nanoparticles, and some applications for the conservation of Maya wall paints in Mexico and to the de-acidification of paper documents and wood.