The Candoglia Marble and the “Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano”: A Renowned Georesource to Be Potentially Designed as Global Heritage Stone

Marbles from Alpine area have been widely employed to build and decorate masterpieces and buildings which often represent the cultural heritage of an area (statuary, historic buildings and sculptures). Candoglia marble, object of the present research, is one of the most famous and appreciated marbles from Alpine area; it has been quarried since Roman times in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (VCO; Piemonte—NW Italy) extractive area. Candoglia Marble outcrops are present as lenses within the high-grade paragneisses of the Ivrea Zone, a visible section of deep continental crust characterised by amphibolite- to granulite-facies metamorphism (Palaeozoic period). Candoglia calcitic marble (80–85% CaCO3 and the 15–20% other minerals) shows a characteristic pink to gray colour and a coarse-grained texture (>3 mm): frequent centimetre-thick dark-greenish silicate layers (mainly represented by diopside and tremolite) characterize the texture of the marble. It has been largely used in local rural constructions and historical buildings, but its most famous application has been (and still is) for the “Duomo di Milano” construction (fourteenth century). The Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano carried out the anthropogenic activities dealing with the Candoglia marble exploitation; it has to be highlighted that the company have managed the Marble exploitation during the last seven centuries and that the quarry itself is a tangible sign of the development of extraction and heritage in the VCO area. Candoglia marble can be recognized as a significant example of a “Global Heritage Stone Resource”: its exploitation from quarry to building (the Duomo di Milano) well represents the close correlation between stone and cultural heritage, between georesources and humankind development

Compatibility matters: Assessing the risks of built heritage cleaning

Today, heritage conservation is a discipline torn between the objectivity of its material questions and the subjectivity of its stakeholders and practitioners, inherent to the fact that conservation is, first and foremost, a cultural act. Most current conservation perspectives advise for (conservation) decisions to be based on the significance of the heritage object. Following this approach, different management tools have emerged to assist conservation at site, local, national and international levels. Quite the opposite, in what concerns interventions, conservation is still largely viewed as an objective material problem, and decision-support tools at this level are still mainly focused on performance assessments. An exception to this rule is the Eight-step Planning Model, complemented by the (In)compatibility Assessment Procedure, proposed by Delgado Rodrigues & Grossi, which attempts to bridge the gap between the macro and micro levels of heritage conservation planning. Compatibility has been gathering momentum as a conservation principle, but it has been mostly dealt with from a purely material perspective and is still insufficiently defined, especially in scopes beyond product testing. Borrowing from the aforementioned (In)compatibility Assessment, the research presented herein argues that compatibility is an adequate operative concept to assist decision making and guide conservation interventions. The key for using the principle of compatibility at this level of heritage conservation is to link it to the significance of the (conservation) object. This is demonstrated by proposing a procedure for the planning of built heritage cleaning based on the assessment of its risks towards significance; using risk analysis as a development tool, this procedure intends to frame the subjectivity of decision making in heritage cleaning. From this research, it follows that the principle of compatibility may constitute a valuable bridge between the objectivity and the subjectivity of heritage conservation

STONECOLOR: color of commercial marbles and limestone - causes and changes

Historically centred in the European and Asiatic countries, the ornamental stone production is currently one of the most important sectors for the Portuguese economy. In fact, Portugal is today one of the leaders in the production of natural stone worldwide, namely in the limestone and marble exploitation. The production increment over the last several years is related with the high quality of the carbonated stones existing in the Portuguese territory together with the Portuguese experience in stone manufacture, acquired since ancient times. In this context, colour is one of the most important visible aspects of natural stone, for the construction/restoration of new buildings and/or for Cultural Heritage preservation. Therefore, colour and discolouration of stone is currently an important research topic for the scientific community, where the association stone-colour-microorganism is still unexploited. This PhD aimed to determine the causes that affect the colour of Portuguese marbles and limestones. Therefore, several lithotypes of natural stone with high relevance for the Portuguese natural stone industry and for Cultural Heritage assets were selected and studied. In order to characterise discolouration phenomena, the processes of natural stones’ weathering were assessed, and the microbiota thriving on the stones was determined. The microorganisms’ contribution for the stone discolouration phenomena was evaluated through the execution of artificial ageing assays, under controlled environment. The results obtained allowed to identify the main chromophore components of the Portuguese carbonated stones studied. It was also finding and determined that the colour change occurred on the blue limestone is achieved through the natural weathering of pyrite, and this mechanism is accelerated when microorganisms are present. Regarding the cultural heritage assets study, it was finding that colour alterations of the stone are caused mainly by chemical and biogenic actions; Resumo: Tradicionalmente centrada nos países Europeus e Asiáticos, a produção de Pedra Ornamental tem-se tornado num dos mais importantes setores da economia Portuguesa. Portugal é hoje, de facto, um dos líderes ao nível mundial na produção de Pedra Natural, nomeadamente de calcários e mármores. O aumento na produção ao longo destes últimos anos está relacionada não só com a elevada qualidade das rochas carbonatadas que aqui se encontram, mas também com a experiência portuguesa no manuseamento da Pedra. A cor, neste contexto, é um dos aspetos visíveis mais importantes na Pedra Natural, tanto na construção/restauro de novos edifícios como na preservação de Património Cultural. Deste modo, a cor e a descoloração da Pedra tem-se tornado num dos importantes tópicos de investigação para a comunidade científica, onde uma das lacunas é a falta de associação pedra-cor-microorganismo. Com este projeto pretendeu-se contribuir para a compreensão das causas de cor em rochas carbonatadas portuguesas, como o calcário e o mármore, onde foram selecionados e estudados diversos litótipos de Pedra Natural com elevada relevância para a indústria da Pedra portuguesa e para o património cultural construído. Para caracterizar fenómenos de descoloração, foram estudados os processos de meteorização de rochas e foi determinado o estado de biocolonisação do material. O contributo dos microorganismos para o fenómeno de descoloração de Pedra foi avaliado através da execução de ensaios de envelhecimento artificial, sob ambiente controlado. Os resultados obtidos permitiram identificar os principais elementos cromóforos das rochas carbonatadas portuguesas estudadas. Foi ainda determinado que a alteração da cor no calcário azul é causada pela pela meteorização natural da pirite, e que este mecanismo é acelerado na presença de agentes microbianos. Relativamente ao estudo dos bens patrimoniais, foi determinado que as alterações cromáticas aqui presentes são sobretudo de origem química e biogénica

Deciphering past and present atmospheric metal pollution of urban environments: The role of black crusts formed on historical constructions

Construction materials affected by black crusts (BCs) can be subjected to restoration, demolition, recycling or even to their management as waste products. Therefore, the determination of their chemical features should be considered a crucial step before undertaking any action. In this work, we present the development of an analytical methodology useful to be implemented as a routine screening tool to detect recent and past atmospheric emissions of heavy metals, nowadays superficially deposited or even encapsulated in BCs. For its development, BCs together with the underneath original substrate/construction material were sampled from the historical construction Punta Begona Galleries (Getxo, Basque Country, North of Spain). In order to detect quickly and in a cost-effective way the stratification of the metallic deposits in the BCs over time (surface or external/recent and internal/past), thin sections were analyzed by elemental spectroscopic imaging techniques (SEM-EDS and mu-ED-XRF). In the external part of the BCs, iron particles were mainly identified, whereas in the inner areas (past deposition events) of the most exposed BCs to the atmosphere, lead accumulations together with zinc and copper were identified. Additional Raman imaging studies allowed to perform the molecular speciation study of lead, identifying mainly laurionite (PbClOH) together with hydrocerussite (Pb-3(CO3)(2)(OH)(2)). The presence of the mentioned lead chloride hydroxide confirms the role of the marine aerosol (chloride input) in the formation of the metallic compounds. These experimental evidences were used to assist the chemical equilibrium models developed to explain the reactivity pathway, which lead to the formation of the identified compounds. Through ICP-MS and lead isotopic ratio analysis, more than 3000 mg kg(-1) of lead were quantified in the BCs, probably coming from the old emissions conducted by the old power station close to the construction,. That lead content can be high enough to consider those crusts as a source of metallic contamination and a possible risk to the environment and human health

The archaeological sublime: history and architecture in Piranesi's drawings

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, Architecture, İzmir, 2006Includes bibliographical references (leaves:144-176)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxxi, 176 leavesIn the architectural, historical, and archaeological context of the eighteenth century, Italian architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) played an important role. He posited crucial theses in the debates on the 'origins of architecture' and 'aesthetics'. He is numbered foremost among the founders of modern archaeology. But Piranesi was misinterpreted both in his day and posthumously. The vectors of approach yielding misinterpretation of Piranesi derived from two phenomena: one is the early nineteenth-century Romanticist reception of Piranesi.s character and work. The second is the mode of codification of architectural history. The former interpretation derived from Piranesi.s position on aesthetics, the latter from his argument concerning origins. Both of these served the identification of Piranesi as .unclassifiable.. He has thus been excluded from the 'story' of the progress of western architectural history.Piranesi, however, conceived of these two debates as one interrelated topic.Concerning origins, he developed a history of architecture not based on the East/West division, and supported this by the argument that Roman architecture depended on Etruscans which was rooted in Egypt. Secondly, he distinguished Roman from Grecian architecture identified with 'ingenious beauty'.Thus Piranesi placed Romans in another aesthetical category which the eighteenth century called 'the sublime'.Piranesi's perception caused him to be described as madman or idiosyncratic. However, most of these evaluations lack a stable historical base. Therefore, restoring Piranesi, his arguments, executed works and drawings to architectural history appear as a necessity

Application of Biology to Cultural Heritage

This book compiles the Special Issue of Applied Sciences, entitled “Application of Biology to Cultural Heritage”, and aims to cover all the latest outstanding progress on the biological and biochemical methods developed and applied to cultural heritage.Eleven excellent papers (including both reviews and full research articles) form part of this book and each paper went through a hard and demanding review in order to ensure maximum quality. We do thank all the reviewers for their efforts which are so crucial for the improvement of the now-published papers. In the field of cultural heritage, biodiversity and biodeterioration have received a great deal of research attention in recent years. This book intends to provide a comprehensive examination of the science of biology in various fields and areas, as well as its practical application for the preservation of cultural heritage. Full research articles and reviews on all aspects of biological causes, modes of action, biocidal treatments, and the protection of cultural heritage are here presented, as well as long-term studies on the biodeterioration of cultural heritage sites and monuments.Analyses and tests of macro- and micro-organisms affecting the preservation of cultural heritage are also addressed.The knowledge that has arisen from the papers published on the studies on new techniques and new products applied to the field of cultural heritage may now be translated into new conservation and restoration treatments in similar objects, sites and supports. This was the main goal and it was achieved in a mission that we carried out with great pleasure and dedication

Evaluation of black crust formation and soiling process on historical buildings from the Bilbao metropolitan area (north of Spain) using SEM-EDS and Raman microscopy

In the present work, several building materials suffering from black crusts and soiled surfaces were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The goal was to examine the elemental and molecular composition, the distribution on the samples, and the morphology of endogenous and exogenous compounds on those black crusts and soiled surfaces. The black crusts were deposited over different building materials such as limestone, sandstone, and brick that constitute a small construction called "malacate" as well as over a limestone substrate of a cemetery gate. Both constructions are dated back to the beginning of the twentieth century. The samples of soiling were taken from the façade of a building constructed in the 1980s. The analytical evaluation allowed in a first stage the determination of the composition and the observation of the morphology of soiling and black crusts. In addition, the evaluation of the compositions of the soiling and black crusts of different grade and formation allowed the assessment of the main weathering phenomena that the buildings have suffered, which were found to be sulfate impact, marine aerosol impact, depositions of metallic particles, crustal particulate matter depositions, carbonaceous particles, biodeterioration, and vandalism.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the project DISILICA-1930 (ref. BIA2014-59124-P) and the Regional Development Fund (FEDER). E. Calparsoro is grateful also to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) who funded his pre-doctoral fellowship (ref. BES-2014-068940)

A multiproxy approach to evaluate biocidal treatm entson biodeteri orated majolica glazed tiles

23 páginas.-- 10 figuras.-- 6 tablas.-- 88 referencias.-- Supporting information Additional Supporting Information may be found in the online version of this article at the publisher’s web-site: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13380The Fishing House located on the grounds of the Marquis of Pombal Palace, Oeiras, Portugal, was built in the 18th century. During this epoch, Portuguese gardens, such as the one surrounding the Fishing House, were commonly ornamented with glazed wall tile claddings. Currently, some of these outdoor tile panels are covered with dark colored biofilms, contributing to undesirable aesthetic changes and eventually inducing chemical and physical damage to the tile surfaces. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the investigated biofilms are mainly composed of green algae, cyanobacteria and dematiaceous fungi. With the aim of mitigating biodeterioration, four different biocides (TiO2 nanoparticles, Biotin® T, Preventol® RI 80 and Albilex Biostat®) were applied in situ to the glazed wall tiles. Their efficacy was monitored by visual examination, epifluorescence microscopy and DNA-based analysis. Significant changes in the microbial community composition were observed 4 months after treatment with Preventol® RI 80 and Biotin® T. Although the original community was inactivated after these treatments, an early stage of re-colonization was detected 6 months after the biocide application. TiO2 nanoparticles showed promising results due to their self-cleaning effect, causing the detachment of the biofilm from the tile surface, which remained clean 6 and even 24 months after biocide application.This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-MCTES) under grant no. SFRH/BD/46038/2008 and project no. UID/EAT/00729/2013. A. Z. Miller acknowledges the support from a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship of the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (PIEF-GA-2012-328689). Authors acknowledge the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Research Programme in Technologies for the Assessment and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (TCP CSD2007-00058),Peer reviewe