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Conservación y protección de platas

Pulse para ampliar
  • Estimated timeframe: 2022-2025
  • Project leaders: Nayra García-Patrón Santos (coord.) Raquel Acaz Mendive, Bárbara Culubret Worms.
  • Collaborators: Dr. Emilio Cano, Dr. Marc Gener-Moret y Blanca Ramírez Barat CENIM- CSIC

Study approach:

Thanks to the scientific analysis of the cultural assets, the environment, the mechanisms of alteration and the effectiveness of the protection systems, it will subsequently be possible to implement strategies aimed at improving the conservation of silver pieces affected by sulphuration processes.

Silver is a material that has been used since antiquity in many cultural objects. The National Archaeological Museum exhibits a large number of pieces made of this metal.

Silver alters very rapidly when exposed to the atmosphere; when the material reacts with sulphur dioxide (SO2) present in the air, silver sulphide is formed, a stable compound that darkens the surface of the metal. Continuous mechanical cleaning of silver objects, no matter how gentle, implies a constant loss of material and surface relief. Thus, once pieces are cleaned, they once again react with the atmospheric air and this layer re-forms, creating a dynamic that in the medium term implies the deterioration of the objects.

Since the opening of the museum in 2014, the silver objects in the permanent exhibition rooms have undergone several interventions, as we have found that their alteration occurs very rapidly.

To face this challenge, we have launched an internal project whose objectives include:

  • Systematic review of the alterations experienced by exposed silver.
  • Analysis of surface composition via x-ray flourescence.
  • Application of protective coatings to cleaned parts and study of their short- and medium-term effects.
  • Assessment of cleaning frequency based on previous studies.

The first phase of the project will involve, with the collaboration of CENIM-CSIC, the characterisation of the environment in different display and rooms, making it possible to identify chemical compounds that may be affecting the pieces. In a second phase, we plan to study the behaviour and effectiveness of protective systems and their different forms of application in order to select the most effective ones.

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