Event date: Monday, January 19 this year, time slot 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Event location: Romanian Academy Library, Cluj-Napoca Branch
About the event
Four representatives of the Old Books National Conservation and Restoration Center within the Alba-Iulia National Unification Museum, whose activity is dedicated to the identification of the factors of damage to objects on paper or parchment, respectively to the discovery of the most optimal conservation, restoration, protection and valorization methods, will facilitate on Thursday, January 19, 2023, a demonstration workshop about the restoration of book body and book binding.
Thus, a significant part of the activity of the Old Books National Conservation and Restoration Center, which follows the traditions of restoring the body of the book on paper and parchment as a support, as well as those of restoring the book binding, using leather, parchment, wood and sewing elements as support materials, initiated and perpetuated in the oldest structure of the Restoration-Conservation Laboratory, will be presented to the workshop participants.
Alexandru Știrban, Maria Similia Zgârciu, Marius Nicolae Anghel and Maria Cernea, restorers with rich experience proven both by restoring a significant number of heritage objects, by elaborating scientific works published in specialist journals, by designing, setting up and presenting exhibitions, but also through the contribution made in the field of training and specialization of future specialists in the field, will reveal to the participants of the workshop, through participatory practical training, the most important procedures of the restoration of old books and the essential stages of the conservation of this type of heritage object.
Based on a long documentation and a relevant experience in the field of scientific research focused on identifying the best methods of preventive conservation, curative conservation and restoration of old books and documents, the facilitators of this workshop will open the participants’ appetite for the work of restoration and restitution, in a form as close as possible to the original, of an old manuscript or print. The principles of the appropriate methodologies to interrupt the destructive processes and the degradation suffered by the fragments of manuscripts or old books will be presented to the participants in an attractive way, by practicing some maneuvers specific to the restoration process.
Thus, in this workshop, participants will discover the ways in which the different stages of the restoration process help to stop the deterioration of heritage books and documents, preserving both the elements of originality and their significance, purpose or functionality.
The workshop is organized by the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch in collaboration with the Alba-Iulia National Unification Museum, through the project “FRAGMED – A Transylvanian Puzzle: Reconstructing Medieval Culture from Fragments of Codices”, financed by SEE Grants 2014 – 2021, within the RO-CULTURE Program.
