Skip to content

Hardy Diagnostics Blog

One Cultured Blog

  • Home
  • Categories
    • COVID-19
    • Micro Musings
    • Looking to the Past
    • Hardy Happenings
    • Cosmic Questions
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us
  • Toggle search form

Preservation of Art Masterpieces from Microbial Dangers

Posted on March 28, 2019August 12, 2021 By hardydiagnosticsadmin

Art masterpieces should be protected from microbial damages by applying preventive action.

Although human occupancy is known as the main source of airborne bacteria and molds in closed environments like hospitals and schools,  art masterpieces in museums are often not considered in this respect.

The Sistine Chapel within the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

Many fungi and bacteria are capable of producing serious damage in historic materials, decomposing them from the impact of specific enzymes, cellulases, proteases, ligninases, and organic acids.

Pigmentation and physical damages in materials are other deleterious effects in addition to bio deterioration.

Fungi are particularly dangerous because they show a substantial tolerance to environmental conditions. In addition, they can withstand lower relative humidity (RH) than bacteria for their development and produce spores that are that are easily dispersed by moving air.

The closed space of a museum or art gallery should be regularly monitored and evaluated to mitigate air contamination that is affected by the number of visitors, residents, tourists, air conditioning, hygienic conditions and cleaning activities.

Oil paintings and other art masterpieces can be damaged by bacteria and fungi brought in by humans or contaminated heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC systems).

High microbial contamination can also be caused by of excessive air humidity conditions.

An example of a preventive action is the monitoring of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, housed  in a heavily occupied environment (e.g. up to 700 visitors at the same time).

The microbial content of air should be controlled at regular intervals to recognize changes in the environment when they happen. A viable impact air sampling instrument (such as the TRIO.BAS microbial air sampler) may be used to evaluate the risk assessment and to implement a protocol for the specific closed environment, thus alleviating the threat of damage to irreplaceable works of art, in order to preserve them for many future generations to enjoy.

Contributed by Roberto Ligugnana of Orum International and Kirsten Spallino, the Pharmaceutical Market Coordinator for Hardy Diagnostics

Micro Musings

Post navigation

Previous Post: Urogenital Mycoplasmas
Next Post: The Changing Face of Safety Practices in the Cosmetics and Personal Care Industry

More Related Articles

New Drugs in the Fight Against COVID-19 Micro Musings
new england compounding center meningitis Filthy Pharmacy: How Carelessness Cost Lives and Prompted New Industry Guidelines Micro Musings
Chikungunya: The Neglected Disease Micro Musings
How Does The COVID-19 Virus Affect Our Gut Microbiome? Micro Musings
Can a T Cell Test Predict Immune Status? Micro Musings
Can our gut microbiome help to overcome Covid-19? Micro Musings

Archives

Archives

Featured Products

Hardy Diagnostics is proud to manufacture CompactDry™, a ready-to-use system that reduces the time needed to perform microbial testing on food, cannabis, meat, cosmetics, raw materials and more. Click here to learn more.
Diagnose with confidence with Immuview®. Immuview® is the first lateral flow test that provides rapid and simple detection of both S. pneumoniae and Legionella in one test. Click here to learn more.

Copyright © 2021 The HardyBlog.

Powered by PressBook Blog WordPress theme