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Preventive Conservation, Predictive Analysis and Environmental Monitoring

Edited by Ángel F. Perles (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain), Laura Fuster-López (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain), Emanuela Bosco (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands)

New Content ItemHeritage Science is pleased to present this article collection, supported by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia in Spain. This set of articles aims to show the ongoing research and latest technological advances in the study of the behavior and aging of cultural heritage materials, environmental monitoring, and their contribution in the design of preventive conservation strategies developed in the framework of CollectionCare (www.collectioncare.eu), an EU-funded project involving 18 partners from 9 countries between 2019 and 2022. Selected contributions from the conference “CollectionCare: New Challenges in Preventive Conservation, Predictive Analysis and Environmental Monitoring” are presented, alongside contributions from research groups working in relevant areas. 

The article collection covers the following three areas: 

Area 1: Collections' needs and challenges

  • Collections' needs and challenges during display, storage and transport;
  • Current trends in object and environmental monitoring;
  • Risk assessment;
  • Preventive conservation and risk management;
  • Organizational impact and sustainability in preventive conservation.

Area 2: Predictive analysis of cultural objects and preventive conservation

  • Long-term prognosis of the degradation process of cultural objects;
  • Multi-scale degradation computational modelling;
  • Multi-scale predictive analysis in the cloud for different types of materials;
  • Preventive conservation standards and recommendations;
  • Climate change scenarios and preventive conservation.

Area 3: Connectivity, sensing, and cloud computing technologies

  • Internet of things (IoT) and big data analytics applied to preventive conservation;
  • Wireless technologies for cultural heritage site monitoring;
  • Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies applied to cultural heritage.


  1. The quality and quantity of thermo-hygrometric data are essential to carry out an appropriate assessment of the microclimate from a preventive conservation standpoint in those spaces where the artefacts to be ...

    Authors: Ignacio Díaz-Arellano, Manuel Zarzo, Cristina Aransay, Sara González de Aspuru Hidalgo, Jaime Laborda and Angel Perles
    Citation: Heritage Science 2023 11:48
  2. Wooden panel paintings are among the most important historical and artistic artworks from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. Currently, they represent a challenge for conservators and scientists who f...

    Authors: Lorenzo Riparbelli, Paola Mazzanti, Chiara Manfriani, Luca Uzielli, Ciro Castelli, Giovanni Gualdani, Luciano Ricciardi, Andrea Santacesaria, Sandra Rossi and Marco Fioravanti
    Citation: Heritage Science 2023 11:25
  3. The Post-2015 UN Development Agenda includes culture and links the preservation of cultural heritage (CH) to sustainable development. In principle, sustainable redevelopment of CH should preserve historical qu...

    Authors: Pelagia Gawronek and Tomasz Noszczyk
    Citation: Heritage Science 2023 11:23
  4. According to the final report of the European Union OMC expert group on strengthening cultural heritage resilience for anthropogenic climate change, the impacts of climate change, particularly extreme weather ...

    Authors: Lola Kotova, Johanna Leissner, Matthias Winkler, Ralf Kilian, Stefan Bichlmair, Florian Antretter, Jürgen Moßgraber, Jürgen Reuter, Tobias Hellmund, Katharina Matheja, Michael Rohde and Uwe Mikolajewicz
    Citation: Heritage Science 2023 11:18
  5. In paper degradation studies, the viscosity-average degree of polymerisation (DPv) is often used as a key indicator of the extent of degradation of cellulosic paper. DPv can be deduced from the viscosity of dilut...

    Authors: Siavash Maraghechi, Anne-Laurence Dupont, Ruth Cardinaels, Sabrina Paris-Lacombe, Johan P. M. Hoefnagels, Akke S. J. Suiker and Emanuela Bosco
    Citation: Heritage Science 2023 11:15
  6. The study of the microclimate is pivotal for the protection and conservation of cultural heritage. This paper describes specific procedures aimed at the deployment of microclimate sensors in spaces housing col...

    Authors: Francesca Frasca, Elena Verticchio, Andrea Peiró-Vitoria, Andreas Grinde, Alessandro Bile, Claudio Chimenti, Cecilia Conati Barbaro, Gabriele Favero, Eugenio Fazio, F-J Garcia-Diego and Anna Maria Siani
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:200
  7. The effective implementation of preventive conservation strategies requires tools to continuously measure the environmental conditions to which the cultural objects are exposed. In this sense, the European Hor...

    Authors: Jaime Laborda, Ana María García-Castillo, Ricardo Mercado, Andrea Peiró-Vitoria and Angel Perles
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:197
  8. Understanding how the evolving molecular composition of an oil paint layer on its transition to an aged solid film affects its dimensional change and mechanical properties is fundamental to the assessment of m...

    Authors: Arkadiusz Janas, Marion F. Mecklenburg, Laura Fuster-López, Roman Kozłowski, Patrick Kékicheff, Damien Favier, Cecil Krarup Andersen, Mikkel Scharff and Łukasz Bratasz
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:181
  9. Control of temperature and relative humidity in storage areas and exhibitions is crucial for long-term preservation of cultural heritage objects. This paper explores the possibilities for developing a proactiv...

    Authors: Christian Boesgaard, Birgit Vinther Hansen, Ulla Bøgvad Kejser, Søren Højlund Mollerup, Morten Ryhl-Svendsen and Noah Torp-Smith
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:176
  10. Understanding canvas paintings as physical systems is fundamental to develop evidence-based environmental specifications for museums. A number of tests were carried out to determine mechanical properties of ca...

    Authors: Arkadiusz Janas, Laura Fuster-López, Cecil Krarup Andersen, Angel Vicente Escuder, Roman Kozłowski, Katarzyna Poznańska, Aleksandra Gajda, Mikkel Scharff and Łukasz Bratasz
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:160
  11. The wood photodegradation, including discolouration caused by exposure to UV and solar radiation, has been intensively studied, while the effect of artificial lighting on wood has been little investigated. In ...

    Authors: Dace Cirule, Edgars Kuka, Ingeborga Andersone and Bruno Andersons
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:158
  12. Mechanical damage in oil paintings on canvas show up as cracks and loss of original paint. Several parameters can contribute to this type of degradation. These paintings have a complex layered structure, typic...

    Authors: D. S.-H. Lee, N.-S. Kim, M. Scharff, A. V. Nielsen, M. Mecklenburg, L. Fuster-López, L. Bratasz and C. K. Andersen
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:130
  13. Monitoring of atmospheric pollutants is a key point for preventive conservation since these species are known to impact the integrity of many artifacts including metals, papers, pigment and textiles. The probl...

    Authors: Stephane Rioual, Benoit Lescop, Julien Pellé, Gerusa de Alkmim Radicchi, Gilles Chaumat, Marie-Dominique Bruni, Johan Becker and Dominique Thierry
    Citation: Heritage Science 2022 10:124