Thanks to the kindness of Aleksandra Papis, head of the Conservation Laboratory at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, we had the opportunity to visit her team’s workplace and learn about their challenges and daily tasks. Conservators shared valuable insight into their collection and the conservation methods used. They emphasized that the goals of their approach are unique in that they seek to preserve the authenticity of the objects and buildings belonging to the museum, to keep the history associated with them and to not remove information during maintenance operations. If any damage comes from the period of the camp’s existence, it is not repaired, only secured to act as a “silent witnesses to history” for as long as possible.
We shared about the experience of our group members in assessing the condition of monuments, analyzing degradation processes and microclimate recommendations.
The Cultural Heritage Research Group was represented by: Dr. hab. Łukasz Bratasz, Dr. Leszek Krzemień, Dr. Lindsay Oakley and Magdalena Soboń. We are looking forward to future beneficial discussions and collaboration.