Funded by the European Commission Environment Programme
Assessment of damage to indoor cultural heritage, in particular by pollutants,
is a major and growing concern for curators and conservators. Our aim is to provide early warning
systems both to assess damage and estimate threshold values at which it occurs, initially in environments
where air quality and microclimatic anomalies have been characterised. Damage dosimeters (paint-based)
have been developed and the novel contribution in this project is their further calibration, using known
and varying levels of pollutants, and then extension of their capabilities to provide rapid in house
evaluation procedures using piezoelectric quartz crystal technology. Preventive conservation practice,
where this is not already in place, will be introduced to sites which are heavily visited and which are
repositories of our cultural heritage. These will include Northern and Southern European locations with
different levels of environmental control and where problems have already been recognised.
Responsible EC Officer: Johanna Leissner
Title of Project : Microclimate Indoor Monitoring in Cultural Heritage Preservation
Area 4.2 "Protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage"
of the Key Action "The City of tomorrow and Cultural Heritage"
Cultural Heritage Damage Assessment and Conservation Strategies
e-mail : johanna.leissner@cec.eu.int
Tel +32 2 29 54957