Chemistry for Cultural Heritage
CNR ICCOM is involved in this task at the forefront of innovation, thanks to the activity carried out at the Applied and Laser Spectroscopy (ALS-Lab) Laboratory of the Secondary Site of Pisa. The researchers are working since at least 20 years for the establishment of a culture of Art conservation based on the application of the most advanced scientific technologies for the safeguard of Art and Archaeology, which have been applied to the analysis of Cultural Heritage from prehistory to modern and contemporary Art. Mainly, the ALS-LAB activity is devoted to the development of innovative methods based on laser spectroscopy for the non-invasive analysis of materials, monuments and other related to the conservation of cultural heritage. Museum and in-situ analyses have also been performed in Italy and abroad by the Italian research unit, such as the recent study of Max Ernst paintings at Guggenheim Museum in Venice, the 3D survey of the Etruscan Tomb of the Monkey in Chiusi, Siena; the experimental campaigns in Israel at the Magdala archaeological site and in Jerusalem for the study of the Qumran site findings. The Italian laboratory is equipped with sophisticated bench-top and mobile analytical instrumentation for the analysis of Cultural Heritage. Among them, it can be mentioned:
- Portable double impulse LIBS instrument (Modì), equipped with a 3D mapping system;
- Micro-Raman instrument with three different source lines (532, 633 e 785 nm) for Raman and SERS analyses;
- Portable Raman system for in situ measurements;
- Portable XRF instrument.