Damages to Cultural Heritage caused by Salts

Damage caused by salts belong to the most frequent and strongest damage processes with which restorers and conservators are faced with on monuments of stone and brick, plasters and mural paintings. Identifying and investigating the damage patterns and their causes are therefore an important step toward long-term preservation of these objects.

Course Content

The course is primarily designed to understand the damage processes, to recognise the connection between salt, humidity and climate, as well as to assess the individual methods. It provides the background knowledge to be able to take the right investigation steps and adapted measures. The textual explanations are supplemented by literature references, web links and about 150 explanatory images and illustrations, as well as 10 short videos. 

In addition to contacting the tutor by telephone, there is the possibility to exchange with the author via the internet to clarify questions, go through case studies and present measurement and analytical methods.

The Modules

• The first module will teach you the scientific fundamentals. Understanding these chemical and mineralogical relationships will help you to gain a deeper insight into the interactions between substances.
• The second module summarises the most important harmful salts. You will learn about their chemical compositions, the materials in which they occur most frequently and how they accumulate on surfaces.
• The third module deals with damage mechanisms and patterns. You will learn to recognise damage processes and understand their relationships.
• The fourth module explains the criteria and procedures for taking measures against salt damage.
• As the activity of salt compounds is often related to the ambient climate, the fifth module teaches you how to measure climate and material moisture.
• The final module covers subsequent analysis methods for identifying salts and related activities.
   

The Author

The mineralogist Dr. Hans-Jürgen Schwarz, a renown expert in the field of salt problems, has been lecturing on the subject of "Damage from Salts" in the Faculty of Architecture, Engineering and Conservation at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen for many years. Between 2009 and 2012 he was coordinator of the Hornemann Institute's project  “Salzwiki”, the creation of an online information structure using a specialist Wiki (incl. repository) on the subject “Salt-based Damage” in the research field of “Conservation of Cultural Heritage” funded by the "Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft".

This course is a translation of the German course by Jasmine Brenner, conservator and native speaker.

Contact

Queries can be sent to: fortbildung@hornemann-institut.de