COST D42 – ENVIART: A European Network in Conservation Research

COST stands for Cooperation in Science and Technology and is the longest running network funding organisation in Europe. Within the COST networks, Action D42 is dedicated to the role of the indoor environment on the behaviour of the materials present in archives, libraries and museums. Under storage, use and or exhibition. The indoor environment consists of many components able to deteriorate our cultural artefacts. Components coming from both the outdoor and indoor air. Networking in this field is therefore very important, in order to exchange knowledge, to cooperate and not to duplicate research. This paper gives a overview of EU networks and give in more detail the role of COST Action D42 in networking and research. INTRODUCTION The conservation of cultural heritage is a duty for all nations, due to ethical reasons. Only very slowly decision makers start to understand that caring about cultural heritage and especially about museum, library and archival collections is also a valuable long-term investment for their economy and in the interest of their citizens. The accessibility of movable heritage depends not only on the direct conservation of it but also on the preventive conservation actions as the quality of the indoor environment is decisive for the preservation of a collection. Sensitive materials, displayed in an aggressive environment may suffer from chemical attack of pollutants, leading to irreversible damage within only a few weeks of inappropriate exposure. The interpretation of results on the impact of pollutants on the degradation of the artefacts (in combination with other environmental parameters, such as humidity and temperature) and consequently, any appropriate measure to prevent damage requires a close collaboration between multidisciplinary key players: chemists concerned with environmental effects and material degradation, conservators, conservation scientists, art historians, curators, environmental engineers, show case manufacturers, and even politicians and decision makers concerned with international standards. Within the EU Research Initiatives (from PF2, 1986 till PF6, 2006) 106 projects have been dedicated to cultural heritage. Among these projects, 20 years of European Research Initiatives are being carried out in the field of Cultural Heritage [1]. The main goal is to reinforce the scientific basis for the establishment of measures and methodologies for the protection and rehabilitation of the European Cultural Heritage. But how we reach the stakeholders? One of the instruments is networking. Networking activities can be found in the European Framework programmes but also in COST actions. COST, European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, is one of the longest-running instrument supporting cooperations among scientist and researchers across Europe [2]. Within COST there is the COST Cultural Heritage Interest Group an umbrella covering COST actions 625, A27, C17, C20, G1, G7, G8 and D42. Within these COST actions, not only topics are discussed on researching the materials of our cultural heritage in art, archaeology, the built environment and conservation but also on how take the correct precautions to have our heritage accessible 1 9th International Conference on NDT of Art, Jerusalem Israel, 25-30 May 2008 For more papers of this publication click: www.ndt.net/search/docs.php3?MainSource=65