| Sound conservation practices preserve the integrity and consolidation of the art in natural stones with minimum intrusion into the historic fabric of the building |
|
||||||
|
Understanding What Goes On Inside Architectural Stone Ornament in the City. Metropolitan environments have high concentrations of pollutants produced by traffic, heating and industrial emission. The most damaging to natural stone is sulphur dioxide. Monuments and art objects, like free-standing sculpture and architectural ornaments made from natural stone, lack any form of regeneration mechanism, and are at greater danger the longer they are exposed to even low concentrations of pollution. Stone artifacts tend to accumulate the pollutants they absorb and cannot rid themselves of them. And what is more serious: aggressive substances like fuel residues may well remain active even after their external environments have been restored to unthreatening levels. As long as these contaminants remain within the stone, accelerated deterioration continues undiminished. Only the removal of contaminated fragments will stop the process. Otherwise, as in most cases, beneath the surface of a deteriorating natural stone ornament, heat, ice, moisture and air, continue to move pollutants deeper into the stone, eventually disintegrating it. Over time, the structural integrity of the building itself is compromised. Sergio Rossetti Morosini
|