Project record of Marine spray and polluted atmosphere as factors of damage to monuments in the Mediterranean coastal environment

Information

Type

Project

Name

Marine spray and polluted atmosphere as factors of damage to monuments in the Mediterranean coastal environment

Description @en

To understand the relationship between environmental factors and damage to the cultural heritage along the Mediterranean coast, where a corrosive marine environment acts together with air pollutants, pilot monuments located along the east-west axis of the Mediterranean will be studied. The monuments selected are: the Cathedral of Cadiz (Spain), the Cathedral of Bari (Italy), and the Temple of Eleusis (Greece). The comparison of these three locations will be supplemented by data which will be gathered in Malta (the Church of Sta. Marija Ta' Cuerra, Siggiewi). The research programme includes the following principal functional parts: 1) Monitoring of environmental and micro-environmental parameters including microclimate variation, rising damp, air sampling for suspended particulates, run-off water characterization, characterization of aerosols, and identification of trace organic compounds. For the latter, fourier transform ion cyclotious resonance mans spectrometry will be used. Newer methods of data processing, e.g. signal analysis will be employed. 2) Systematic mineralogical, petrographical and chemical examination of weathered stones and crusts on the surfaces of the stones formed as a result of atmospheric pollution, on samples from different parts of the monument, in relation to the conditions of exposure to rain and the characteristics of the surface alteration including the formation of black crusts and the grow

Start date

1993-1

End date

1996-3