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CSGI Consorzio
interuniversitario per lo sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase |
Address: c/o Chemistry Department,
University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia, 3; I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino
(Florence), Italy. Ph:+390554573033, Fax:+390554573032, E-mail: baglioni@csgi.unifi.it
Cultural
Heritage Conservation
The scientists’ contribution to conservation of
cultural heritage has grown to a great extent in the last decade. Chemists and
physicists can greatly contribute to the preservation of artefacts because they
can provide useful and reliable predictions of the degradation of Cultural
Heritage materials and delay, as far as possible, the complete degradation of
the artefacts themselves.
Criteria for treatments, such as compatibility,
minimal intervention or reversibility, have found only in the last years some
practical applications with the emerging of new techniques based on
nanotechnology. By using these methods, it is possible to perform interventions
without modification of the physico-chemical and mechanical behaviour of the
materials, ensuring long-lasting effects.
CSGI is involved in several projects aiming to
improve materials and techniques for the conservation of cultural heritage. The
city of Florence is one of the most appropriate "environments" for these studies. After the 1966
Florence flood, the research group directed by the CSGI co-founder Prof. Enzo
Ferroni was one of the first Academic Institutions that applied a rigorous
scientific approach to the investigation of Cultural Heritage conservation. The
peculiarity of the research in the Science for Cultural Heritage resides in its
multidiscipinarity, where basic studies are usually associated to technological
researches.
Several restorations have been carried out with CSGI
scientific consultancy, and using innovative methodologies developed in the
CSGI Laboratories (Masaccio's wall paintings in Cappella Brancacci, and Beato
Angelico's wall paintings in San Marco Abbey, in Florence, Piero della
Francesca's wall paintings in Arezzo, Maya paintings in Calakmul - Mexico,
etc.).
CSGI contribution mainly consists of a co-operation
with conservators and private and public institutions for experimentation of
the innovative methodologies; this approach provides a continuous improvement
of the conservation procedures. Moreover, CSGI offers also physico-chemical
diagnostics of materials: in particular, CSGI expertise is related to the
characterization of pigments, dyes, fibers, and binders used in wall or easel
paintings, and also of the degradation products, as salts, varnishes and aged
adhesives, in stones, wall paintings, paper, and wood.
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last update: March, 2010