Thanks to the long-term cooperation of our group with Dr Marianne Odlyha and the STER scholarship program, PhD student Katarzyna Poznańska took part in a one-month internship at Birkbeck, University of London, Research Center for Scientific Analysis of Cultural Heritage. The laboratory specializes in the use of advanced analytical techniques to assess and prevent the degradation of cultural heritage objects such as paintings, murals and tapestries, and Marianne has extensive experience in cultural heritage research.
The stay in London was a continuation of research on tempera and allowed characterizing tempera paints using DMA (dynamic mechanical analysis) and DETA (dielectric measurements) techniques depending on temperature and relative humidity. In addition, it was possible to look at our paints at the nanoscale using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) at UCL Engineering.
Courtesy of David Thickett, it was also possible to visit Ranger’s House and look at the work in the research laboratory, conservation workshop and tour this historic building, as well as admire the rich collection of objects that are currently on exhibition.
London museums offered many opportunities for contact with diverse groups of objects: in the fields of botany, palaeontology and zoology at the Natural History Museum, archaeological objects at the British Museum, applied arts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, to the latest design objects at the Design Museum. A visit to the National Gallery could not be missed!
