2nd International Workshop on Science, Technologyand Cultural Heritage

The 2nd International ‘‘Science, Technology and Cultural

Heritage’’ workshop organised by the Italian Association of

Vacuum (AIV) in conjunction with Heritage, The Italian

Association of Macromolecules, Museo Diocesano of

Catania, Istituto di Fisica del Plasma ‘‘Piero Caldirola’’-

CNR, and the Italian Association of Ecclesiastic Museums,

and sponsored by Regione Siciliana, took place in Catania

(Italy) between 9th and 11th November 2005.

The aim of the workshop was to provide a forum for

discussing the state of art of natural sciences applied to the

conservation and exploitation of cultural heritage and for

creating a closer integration among scientists working in the

field of cultural heritage, and scientists and other profes-

sionists, such as conservators and curators. In this context,

the workshop attracted a large group of multi-disciplinary

attendees including conservation scientists, researchers,

conservators and policy makers.

In 2004 the AIV first workshop ‘‘Science, Technology

and Cultural Heritage’’ held in Venice was a completely new

venture. Its immediate success encouraged the organisers to

arrange a similar event for 2005. For the second workshop

the quality and interest of the presentations was improved.

The conference was attended by around 60 courteous,

attentive and responsive participants from all over Europe.

Each session was chaired by internationally recognised

experts.

During the workshop a number of issues were presented

and discussed. The format was a three day conference with

plenary and parallel sessions, 29 oral presentations were

given supported by a poster session. The programme of the

conference was available at www.aiv.it. Selected papers

from this conference will be published in a special volume

of Macromolecular Symposia.

The main conference themes were:

1) The degradation of synthetic polymers

Fascinating researches, particularly by Dr. Yvonne Sha-

shoua, National Museum of Denmark and Tim Bechthold,

Staatliches Museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Munich,

Germany, were devoted to the study of the deterioration

of plastics in museum collections. As plastics appear to

deteriorate faster than other materials and have a useful

lifetime of less than 40 years, the research in this field aims

at finding the most effective action to inhibit plastic major

degradation pathways. A great dealt of evidence relative to

the degradation of poly(ethylene glycol) currently used for

the conservation of wooden warships was offered by

conservator Emma Hocker, National Maritime Museums

of Sweden, and by Dr. Jens Glastrup, National Museum of

Denmark. Another subject holding the attention of the

researchers, which was delivered by Dr. Francesca Cappi-

telli, University of Milan, Italy, was the fungal deterioration

of paper-based objects consolidated with graft synthetic

copolymers.

2) The study of natural polymers, especially their degrada-

tion and consolidation

There was a huge emphasis on the study of binding media in

paints. Quite interesting talks were given by Dr. Joyce

Townsend, Tate Gallery, UK, and Dr. Martina Griesser,

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Austria, on this topic. Innova-

tive plasma processes for the conservation of biodeter-

iorated paper-based materials was the subject of another

stimulating talk given by Dr. Espedito Vassallo, Istituto Di

Fisica del Plasma, CNR, Milan, Italy.

Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2006, 207, 127–128 � 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Conference Report DOI: 10.1002/macp.200500532 127

Figure 1. Dr. Espedito Vassallo during his talk entitled ‘‘Plasmatreatments of biodeteriorated ancient paper’’.

3) Advanced techniques for the study of materials in works

of art

The feasibility of current technologies was stated and

optimisation and further applications were a core interest.

Advanced techniques applied to cultural heritage were a

common thread in a number of presentations and it was

clear that research in this area will yield much more

information in the coming years. Among many, I cite the

presentation on secondary ion mass spectrometry applied to

archaeometry studies given by Prof. Mariano Anderle, AIV

President, and the talk on nanotechnologies for wood

deacidification by Prof. Piero Baglioni, University of

Florence, Italy.

4) Biodeterioration and biotechnologies applied to cultural

heritage

While prominent conservators and biologists, including

Mariasanta Montanari, Istituto Centrale per la Patologia del

Libro, Rome, Italy, and Dr. Antonella De Mico, CNR-ICB,

Rome, Italy, presented and discuss new research devoted to

discovering the causes, mechanisms, and means of control-

ling the damaging effect of microbes on works of art, a great

deal of evidence relative to the innovative use of bacteria for

the cleaning of altered surfaces of cultural heritage was given

by Dr. Francesca Cappitelli, University of Milan, Italy.

All present agreed on one issue the urgent need

for interdisciplinary research on an international scale,

overcoming established institutional and political barriers.

Francesca Cappitelli

University of Milan, Italy

Figure 2. Beginning from the bottom left going clock-wiseDr. Martina Griesser, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Austria,Dr. Francesca Cappitelli, University of Milan, Italy, Dr. YvonneShashoua, National Museum of Denmark, Dr. Joyce Townsend,Tate Gallery, UK, Emma Hocker, National Maritime Museums ofSweden, Dr. Jens Glastrup, National Museum of Denmark.

128 F. Cappitelli

Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2006, 207, 127–128 www.mcp-journal.de � 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim