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Water plays a fundamental role in the phenomena of stone deterioration. A highly porous limestone called tuffeau used in the Loire castles in France is characterized. Several techniques for pore space investigation and anisotropy determination are presented and their range of application is discussed. Water retention and transfer properties related to the pore space characteristics are determined as a function of relative humidity. The experimental set-up and tests presented have been chosen for their simple execution and interesting data produced for both fresh and deteriorated stone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]