European Day Conservation-Restoration 2024

The book and paper conservation lab of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation participated for the 6th consecutive time in the celebration of the European Day for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage. On the topic of “Good practices in movable monuments and cultural heritage objects”, we created a video regarding the conservation of the complete edition of Ptolemy’s mathematical works, a book from the Bibliotheca Graeca collection edited by astronomer Erasmus Oswald Schreckenfuchs and printed in 1551 in Basel by Henrich Petri. In addition, on Sunday, October 20, 2024, we organized a special event dedicated to the basic conservation techniques for books and paper materials using items from our old and rare collections. Our Head Conservator demonstrated the way to dry-clean a document using sponges and brushes; the proper way to mend tears and paper losses; a bookbinding sewing technique to turn quires into a text-block and a way to restore damages on a leather spine of a book. We also discussed with our visitors the importance of conservation in cultural heritage, the code of ethics for conservators, the differences between preventive and interventional conservation, and the methodology we follow when deciding to conserve an item.