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• New insight on the journey of "Byzantine gems" from the East to the West of the Empire. • The gems of the relic of St. John the Baptist and its reliquary are analyzed for the first time. • The presence of a rare and exquisite example of Balas ruby was identified in the relic. • The investigation improves knowledge on ancient gems traveling across Europe. Gems, especially from remote areas, were highly demanded and valued in Byzantine times, often used for sacred Imperial purposes. Because of their imperishable nature, they were often re-used over time and many of them passed, one way or another, from East to Western Europe. The history of the gems set in Byzantine relics that survived in medieval Europe is often impossible to reconstruct. The exceptional opening of the relics of St. John the Baptist in Siena, 200 years after the last inspection, has made it possible to study the magnificent gems that adorn it. Spinels, rubies, sapphires and other gems from oriental geographies, along with high quality glasses used together regardless of their monetary value, were identified in the relic and its reliquary case through gemological analysis and portable Raman spectroscopy, once again demonstrating the vital contribution of the trans-disciplinary approach in the study of ancient art goldworkings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Laser and photochemistry were first used in restoring and transformation of PbS on painted cultural relics. • Targeted fast realization of restoring and transformation of PbS, and without damage to the base color. • Laser catalysis restoration has wide applicability to papers, the silks and other organic materials. Lead white darkening is a common disease in all kinds of painted cultural relics. In this study, a combination of laser and photodynamic technology was used to achieve controlled restoration of lead sulfide at the lead darkening site on the painted layer of cultural relics by laser catalysis with porphyrin to produce singlet oxygen. The chromatic change, micromorphology and chemical composition were systematically studied for a simulated sample with the lead darkening part of the painted layer. The results show that laser catalytic treatment can repair the color darkening that occurs by the PbS formation, while no obvious changes to the pore and microparticle structure of the painted layer and the base. In this study, the pollutant of lead sulfide was proved to be converted into lead sulfate by oxidation, and then was converted to lead white by precipitation, which was the original composition of the pigment. It is also found that the laser catalytic treatment method can effectively avoid basic layer damages of cultural relics, especially for the papers, the silks and other organic materials. This technology not only provides a new approach for the restoration and transformation of PbS on painted cultural relics, but also makes available new applications for the laser and photodynamic technology in the field of cultural relics protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the Notre-Dame de Paris restoration site, objects and materials are the focus of contrasting attentions. While thedebris of the framework and the vault are examined and preserved as vestiges, the materials destined for Notre-Dame are prepared to be invested with the sacredness of the building. These different ways of thinking about the materiality of the monument and of putting it into memorial and narrative frames contribute to craft the exceptionality of Notre-Dame. They organize an ongoing investigation, based on a collaborative and visual ethnography, questioning the co-construction of authenticity, between patrimonial and religion practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to air pollution and natural weathering, many silicate relics are severely degraded and in urgent need of conservation. Generally, consolidation materials are introduced into weathered silicate relics in liquid form, then solidify within to re-strengthen the weathered heritages. Obviously, consolidation materials will fill the voids in heritages, especially voids near the surface, thus resulting in significant loss in vapor permeability. In this work, one-dimensional silica (ODS) is prepared in-situ via template method. ODS may form supporting network easily without clogging the pores. Evaluations on the mockup samples show that samples treated with appropriate ODS display high compressive strength, high air permeability and small colorimetric variation. The results show that the prepared ODS is highly potential for silicate relics conservation. Meanwhile, it is also found that the pre-reaction time in ODS preparation step has strong influences on the penetration and microstructure of the formed ODS, and eventually on the final conservation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• As a blind restoration issue, damaged silk relics relies on limited prior information. • Structural lines guided inpainting can reduced disconnection and block effects. • Priority function is built to improve the filling order of patches. • An adaptive selection of the sample block size rely the structure sparsity. The digital restoration of damaged silk relics is a type of blind restoration problem that relies on limited prior information. Existing image restoration techniques face significant difficulties in repainting missing patterns of both structural and content. Silk cultural relics are prone to decay, mold, moth, fading, pollution, and adhesion due to long-term exposure to external factors such as temperature, humidity, and microorganisms. Thus, restoring cultural relic patterns is crucial for archeological and design industries. Virtual restoration, based on image inpainting technology, can tackle this problem. However, existing inpainting algorithms are not effective in defective areas lacking a structural trend and only relying on prior information. Moreover, the unique and irregular patterns of silk cultural relics pose a further challenge. To address these issues, we propose a structure-guided virtual restoration method. Concretely, to maintain global image consistency, we introduce an adaptive curve fitting algorithm to reconstruct missing structural lines. We then establish a new priority function to improve the filling order of patches to be repaired, and an adaptive selection of the sample block size is adopted based on the sparsity of the structure. Our method outperforms existing techniques by reconstructing the structural lines according to the pattern design, thus guiding image inpainting to avoid erroneous fillings and block effects. Results show that the restored images achieved an average SSIM of 0.977 and an average PSNR of 39.16. The proposed method for virtual restoration, utilizing curve fitting and image inpainting guided by the artifact's structure, has demonstrated significant improvements in the preservation of structure continuity and faithful reproduction of original patterns on the silk cultural relics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to quantitatively evaluate and characterize the risk of the preservation environment of cultural relics in museums is an important research topic in the preventive protection of movable cultural relics. According to the current existing risk analysis methods for cultural heritage protection, this paper investigates the impact models of time, space and environmental factors on the degradation process or the atmospheric corrosion of metal culture relics in museums for typical application scenarios such as repository houses, exhibitions and transportation. Based on the museum air environment quality and reactivity monitoring data, a grading strategy for the preservation of the metal cultural relics in museums is proposed, and a visual environmental risk assessment method based on QR code (Quick Response code), Visual-ERAM (Visualization Environment Risk Assessment method), is established. This study can provide an intuitive and convenient tool for the risk assessment and early warning functions of the environmental risk management of metal cultural relics in museums. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex and constantly changing environment of underwater excavation sites makes it extremely difficult to protect fragile cultural artifacts during excavation and to keep them intact in situ. It has mostly been through the control of conditions above water that these fragile relics have been extracted. Currently, the temporary solidity of a material named veratraldehyde can provide some temporary structural strength to relics underwater, allowing them to be brought to the surface and be handled on land. This material is, however, not perfect, and the search for better materials to enable the extraction of very fragile historical relics from below the surface of the water is still necessary. In this article, a large number of materials or substances were screened in comparison with veratraldehyde for efficacy in this process, and it was found that 4-dihydrochromone performed better and proved to be more suitable than veratraldehyde for this purpose. It was found that 4-dihydrochromone has a more suitable underwater crystallization time, higher compressive strength, and lower crystal shrinkage than veratraldehyde. Finally, 4-dihydrochromone was used to simulate the extraction of fragile underwater relics and was found to successfully strengthen the aging wooden woven frame to a sufficient degree that it could be transported onto land and restored to the state it was originally in while it was still underwater. This shows that 4-dihydrochromone is a superior material to use in the extraction process and that its ability to temporarily reinforce and extract fragile underwater cultural relics is better than that of veratraldehyde. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy evaluated microscopic damage of paper. • Three-dimensional mathematical models and calculation formulas of lighting damage to paper. • The minimum-damage LED spectrum suitable for Chinese paper cultural relics. • The method of spectral optimization for the lighting source of cultural relics. In museum lighting, Chinese paper cultural relics are prone to cracking, embrittlement and other photochemical damage after absorbing the spectral energy of light sources. Owing to the different absorption and reflection characteristics of paper for different bands, optimizing the spectrum compositions of light sources can provide effective protection, the basis of which is to clarify the influence rule of spectra on the paper. However, the methods of color difference and Raman spectroscopy, which are widely used in the current research, cannot scientifically measure the lighting damage. In this study, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used as the evaluation method, and 10 kinds of narrow-band lights were used as the experimental light source to conduct a 1440 h irradiation experiment on the samples of the ancient Chinese Xuan paper. The oxidation index was calculated as the evaluation index based on the infrared spectra measured every 240 hours, and a mathematical model for the response rate of paper to spectrum and exposure was established. 610 spectra were obtained with the 10 kinds of narrow-band lights combined and superimposed. The color rendering indexes of the above spectra were calculated, and 9,477 spectra that meet the requirements of viewing indicators were obtained. By calculating the damage degree of the above spectra with the model, the optimal LED spectrum with the minimum damage which met the visual requirements was obtained. Then it was input into the 10-channel spectral simulation system for spectral restoration. Two kinds of lights commonly used in lighting for paper cultural relics were selected to conduct a comparative experiment. The results showed that the optimal LED spectrum reduced damage degree by 49.4% and 59.7% respectively compared with the two kinds of contrast light sources, and was beneficial to energy saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural relic transport is quite an essential area of work for realizing cooperation among museums. It involves key functional areas such as object distribution and knowledge sharing. At the same time, the transportation process of cultural relics is dynamic and requires special prevention mechanisms to avoid risks. A real-time management system for the transport of cultural relics using Internet of Things terminals and blockchain technology is provided in this study. In the system, real-time sensing of physical and environmental changes has been achieved, such as those in speed, temperature, relative humidity, GPS location, triaxial acceleration and video images, for effective data feedback and dynamic remote management. Furthermore, a sample application of the system is detailed as it was used to record the changes during the transport of cultural relics from Changsha Museum to the Museum of Nanyue King of the Western Han dynasty. It is shown that no damage happened to the cultural relics and the transport was relatively safe. Effective management of the vehicle, the drivers, and the museum staff were successfully achieved. Overall, it is indicated that the system can be beneficial for tracking the transportation process and preventing untoward incidents during the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]