Paintings conserved in display cases, works of art and ancient books kept in museums, nothing seems to be safe any longer. In fact, threatening the conservation of all these treasures is an invisible yet extremely dangerous enemy: atmospheric pollution. The MEMORI system was designed to save the immense heritage conserved in galleries and libraries. This tool, which is easy and economical to use, is a product of the European project from which it takes its name, "MEMORI - Measurement, Effect Assessment and Mitigation of Pollutant Impact on Movable Cultural Assets". The project which has recently closed after three years of research was coordinated by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research and included 14 European partners including the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Pisa.
In practice MEMORI is a dosimeter which is sensitive to climate, light and photo-oxidizing and acidic gases, capable of transmitting its data to a web-based system designed to interpret the results in real-time and suggest preventive measures quickly before any effect can be seen on the artifacts. The MEMORI prototype presented at the final conference of the project, which was held in Madrid last October, has been tested in more than 16 European museums including the Tate Gallery in London, the Stibbert Museum in Florence, the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo and the Picasso Museum in Paris, and is now ready to be launched on the market.
"My research team at the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry dealt mainly with the evaluation of the effects of volatile organic acids on the organic material present in the artifacts conserved in museums, libraries and archives," explained Professor Maria Perla Colombini from the University of Pisa. "Such extensive and systematic research of this type has never been carried out before."
"Our study" said Ilaria Bonduce, a researcher from the University of Pisa who took part in the final conference of the MEMORI project in Madrid, "demonstrated the dangerous effects of organic acids on pictorial artifacts as these acids act as a catalyst on the oxidation of varnish. This is an extremely important result as it highlights the fundamental importance of monitoring the quality of the environment not only in the exhibition area but also inside the display cases where paintings and other polychrome objects are conserved and precisely where the concentration of organic acids may be extremely high. This demonstrates that sealing a precious painting inside a frame or a climatised display case is not sufficient to protect it but that it is also necessary to check the material these structures are made of and monitor the quality of the air inside them to ensure the best possible conditions for conserving our artistic heritage."