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In the following article a review is given on the use of accelerators in studies connected to our cultural heritage. It focuses on making use of the production and detection of x-rays as a general tool. At “small accelerators”, the proton induced x-ray emission (PIXE), especially when combined with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), has been developed to a very versatile and powerful technique for near-surface investigations. It is well complemented by larger facilities, synchrotron radiation sources as well as medium energy ion accelerators for high energy PIXE. With the development of small compact electron accelerators, a new generation of mono-energetic high-energy high-intensity x-ray sources will add a very comfortable complement in cultural heritage studies. To cite this article: H.-E. Mahnke et al., C. R. Physique 10 (2009).