A NEW APPROACH FOR THE REMEDIATION OF BIODETERIORATED MOBILE AND IMMOBILE CULTURAL ARTEFACTS

Mould affects mobile and immobile cultural artefacts often causing irreparable damage. Fungi (particularly Aspergillus sp. that was found to be the most common and harmful species) affects a large variety of support materials, from buildings, ceramics, wood and paper to textile, paintings (mural or on canvas) and even metals. In order to preserve the cultural heritage objects, adequate conservation treatments are required. In the last decades, the main objective of the scientist working in this domain was the development of new treatments for the remediation of biodeterioration using either synthetic nanostructured, microstructured materials or natural extracts. The present paper objective is to show our own vision regarding the remediation of biodeteriorated mobile and immobile cultural artefacts. Based on our previous experience and on the results that will be presented the most promising synthetic materials are the hydroxides of alkaline earth metals as well as hydroxyapatite and its derivative compounds (the antibacterial and antifungal effect of hydroxyapatite being well-known). These preliminary results allow us to hope that in the near future some well defined methods involving the above materials will be applied for the remediation of artefacts biodeterioration.