Non-destructive Analysis of Cultural Heritage Objects

Recently, conservation and preservation of our cultural heritage has become a topic of major concern within Europe. Except in countries such as Italy and Greece where care for the cultural heritage is part of the scientific establishment, only a very limited number of research groups that have large experience in the use and development of state-of-the-art scientific methods of analysis spent considerable research efforts on cultural heritage-related problems. On the other hand, there is an increasing need for non-destructive investigation of cultural heritage materials, as sampling is often restricted because of the value or the uniqueness of the artefact. Even when sampling is allowed, non-destructive testing offers the possibility of obtaining more information from a sample, as complementary techniques may be applied on the same sample.
This research program will have two main fields of research:
- 3D imaging of the painting support and paint multilayers
- elemental and molecular analysis on the different layers composing the art object.