Irina Petroviciu

Confirmed since the 12-th century, the Saxon community in Transylvania developed over the years in a rigorous powerful society, with its own lifestyle, social, economic, cultural and artistic standards. Together with research in historic documents, this society is now revealed by material studies of 18-th to 20-th century objects in the Emil Sigerius collection, preserved in the ASTRA Museum, Sibiu. Embroideries made in Saxon households as well as representative Saxon coats manufactured in workshops and dated between 1892 and 1908 (years embroidered on objects) were studied in terms of dye analysis in order to understand if adoption of new materials goes together with the stylistic improvements. Dye analysis were performed by liquid chromatography with UV-Vis and mass spectrometric detection (LC-DAD-MS), nowadays the most appropriate technique for the characterization and identification of colour components in heritage textiles. MS/MS detection, in its tri-quadrupolar architecture, ...

The traditional shirt (“ie”) is the most well-known element of Romanian anonymous textile art. Apart from aesthetic and utilitarian roles, it has strong symbolic significance, mainly through the colours used for decoration. Very recently, the traditional shirt with decoration over the shoulder (“ia cu altiță”) was introduced as a Romanian identity element as part of UNESCO heritage. Depending on the ethnographic area, the traditional shirt with decoration over the shoulder has acquired special expressive particularities over time. Particularly relevant is that from Valea Hârtibaciului, an area of Transylvania in the very centre of Romania. Although sober in appearance with large fields of white plain weave, it is discreetly decorated with elaborated embroidery on the sleeve bracelets, over the shoulders and neck. Even the colour range and decoration motifs remain unchanged in time, evolution in the materials used and a subtle transition from natural hues to more strident alternative...

"Heritage science and conservation science represent interdisciplinary fields that weave together exact sciences (chemistry, physics, biology, geology) and humanistic sciences, thus providing essential information for researching, recording, classifying, preserving, restoring and enhancing cultural heritage for exhibition purposes. Unfortunately, only 13 scientific investigators (physical-chemical investigations) certified as experts currently work in the Romanian museum network and, according to the author’s knowledge, about 5 others are in training, extremely few relative to the mobile heritage they are responsible for studying. The situation is all the more worrying as the number of certified investigators is decreasing every year through retirements and transfers. The training of investigators requires many years of practice. The concern is also accentuated by the lack of posts, of specialist courses and of the equipment needed for investigations. Moreover, the museum investigator / researcher is omitted from the COR (Classification of Occupations in Romania), and the idea of investigation seems to be disappearing from the collective mind. Museum labels, exhibition catalogues, conservation-restoration events, museum databases do not include and are not based on research data, even when research results exist. These problems concern the entire museum network and the passivity of decisionmakers and specialists inevitably contributes to the deterioration of cultural heritage. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to draw attention on this situation, and to justify the importance of physicochemical investigations for the knowledge, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage."

Principal component analysis (PCA) has been applied to FTIR and FTRaman data in order to determine the provenance of the amber used for an archaeological artefact discovered at Noslac (Alba county, Romania), now preserved in the Romanian National History Museum collection. As reference materials were used Romanian and Baltic amber from various locations. Similarities among the spectra displayed with PCA indicated a local origin for the archaeological amber beads.

In the present study, golden threads from two, apparently identical, medieval epitrachelions considered masterpieces of the Romanian Byzantine embroidery art, were investigated by using Micro-Particle Induced X-ray Emission (micro-PIXE) and optical microscopy. PIXE measurements allowed to accurate identify the elemental composition, distribution of the trace elements, the layered structures (depth profiling) and thicknesses of the gold layer. Useful information for the characterization of the gilded silver threads due to elemental maps concerning the constituent elements spatial distribution in the sample was also obtained.

The International Seminar and Workshop on Emerging Technology and Innovation for Cultural Heritage (ETICH) is dedicated to the natural connection between science and conservation. The main aim of ETICH is to bring together conservators, restorers, conservation scientists, chemists, physicians, engineers, teachers and show how interdisciplinary work across a broad range of discipline is contributing to the conservation and sustainable preservation of our cultural heritage. In the last decades the booming developments in chemical, physical and biological science, but also in the fields of electronics and computer sciences, nanomaterials and nanotechnologies has brought us new instruments and methods of great perfection, which present new horizons in the analysis, diagnosis and protection of historical and cultural objects and artefacts. ETICH 2014 is the third edition after previous symposia organised in collaboration with the National Museum of Romania History in 2012 and Romanian Ac...

Romanian museum collections preserve a large number of textiles which reflect the history, the geographical location - at the junction of the major trade routes transiting the Far East luxury products to Europe - and the coexistence of Romanians with other ethnic groups. A research project aiming to enrich the existing information on these textiles by dye analysis started in 1997. The first were made by liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (LC-PDA), within a joint research project between Romanian institutions and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage in Brussels, Belgium. Starting in 2007, an analytical protocol based on liquid chromatography with in line diode-array and (ion trap) mass spectrometric detection (LC-PDA-MS) was developed for the first time in Romania. This procedure is based on data collected on standard dyes and dyed fibres and on the progressive use of the (ion trap) mass spectrometer modes, from single stage MS to product ion scan. The present work...

Il presente studio si propone di individuare un protocollo analitico per la validazione dei procedimenti di restauro conservativo della pergamena, che vede l'azione congiunta di conservatori, restauratori e ricercatori. Il metodo adottato consiste in un esame multiscala basato su indagini non-invasive e micro-invasive per caratterizzare le proprietà morfologiche, strutturali e fisico-chimiche della pergamena nuova e di quella sottoposta a trattamenti di invecchiamento artificiale seguiti da operazioni di restauro conservativo come umidificazione diretta con soluzioni idroalcoliche di differenti concentrazioni; ammorbidimento con polietilenglicole e con soluzione acquosa di alcol etilico, urea e cloruro sodico, con crema protettiva a base di lanolina e Bibliobalsamo®crema Frati&Livi, ecc. Le pergamene nuove ottenute presso INCDTP-ICPI di Bucarest sono state precedentemente sottoposte a trattamenti termici mediante radiazione (flussi di calore: 20kW/m 2 e 80 kW/m 2) e convezione (...

An analytical protocol for the identification of natural dyes in historic textiles by LC-MS and LC-MS/MS was recently developed for the first time in Romania. The present study discusses the application of this approach in the identification of dyes and biological sources in very low amounts of fibers from textiles in local col lections.

Biological sources containing anthraquinone dyes of vege-tal and animal origin have been used for dyeing textiles from ancient times. Initially available only locally, later object of trade, different species were used in various areas of the world, in different historic periods. Moreover, the preference for certain biological sources also depend-ed on the value, destination and manufacturing technique of the objects to be created. A large number of textiles from Romanian museum collections have been studied since 1997, in order to identify the natural dyes and their biological sources. Analysis were first performed by Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detection (LC-DAD) and more recently by Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectrometric detection (LC-MS). Anthraquinones of vegetal origin, such as Rubia tinctorum L. (madder), as well as from scale insects: Kerria lacca Kerr (lac dye), Dactylopis coccus Costa (Mexican cochineal), Porphyrophora hamelii Brandt (Ar menian car mine d...

An analytical protocol for the identification of natural dyes in historic textiles by LC-MS and LC-MS/MS was recently developed for the first time in Romania. The present study discusses the application of this approach in the identification of dyes and biological sources in very low amounts of fibers from textiles in local col lections

... 3. T. Tite, L. Miu, M. Giurginca and A. Meghea: Rev. Chem., 2006, 57, (5), 466. 4. M. Derrick: 'Evaluation of the state of degradation of dead sea scroll samples using FT-IR spectroscopy', 10; 1991, Annual of the Book and Paper Group, the American Institute for Conservation. ...

ABSTRACT Ten geological samples (five from each source—Romanian amber and Baltic amber) in duplicate for five different media (air, water, saline, acid and basic) were subjected to thermal alteration at 80 ± 2°C for 12 weeks, in the dark. The samples were analysed before and after the accelerated alteration experiment by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, both in transmittance and reflectance mode, and the acquired spectra were statistically processed by multivariate data analysis, mainly using principal component analysis. The results of the experiment are useful in giving a better picture of how to discriminate between archaeological amber artefacts.