Practical achievements

  • Microclimate monitoring and diagnosis of exhibition conditions in the Boim’s Chapel in Lviv commissioned by POLONIKA The National Institute of Polish Cultural Heritage Abroad (2020-2021).

  • Cooperation in the development of a new version of environmental specifications for museums, archives and libraries of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers ASHRAE, chapter 23 „Museums, Galleries, Archives and Libraries”  (2019).

  • Long-term monitoring of airborne particle concentrations in 12 historical churches (2011-2019).

  • Long-term monitoring of damage accumulation in historical furniture at Knole in Kent, UK, using the acoustic emission method within the National Trust’s conservation project (2015-2018).

Sensors for monitoring acoustic emissions are installed in a way invisible to visitors and safe for the object. Pictured above are sensors placed in an 18th-century French commode at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. We placed an analogous monitoring system in Knole House.
  • Long-term monitoring of airborne particle concentration in the  Diocesan Museum in Udine, Italy, to assess the soiling rate of Giambattista Tiepolo’s wall paintings (2016-2018).

  • Cooperation in the development of European standard EN 15759-2:2018 “Conservation of cultural heritage – Indoor climate – Part 2: Ventilation management for the protection of cultural heritage buildings and collections” within the activities of Technical Committee 346 “Conservation of Cultural Heritage” of the European Standardization Committee CEN (2018).

  • Analysis of microclimate in the Royal Theatre and the Sculpture Gallery in the Old Orangery of the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw, to diagnose long-term stability of the microclimate conditions and their short-term fluctuations due to events and performances (2017).

  • Assessment of environmental conditions and energy consumption by environment-control systems in the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, New Haven, USA (2015‑2017).

  • Stability assessment of Marcel Duchamp’s deformed ‘Little Large Glass’ in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA (2015-2017).

  • Monitoring of lighting conditions and risk assessment for light-sensitive objects in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA (since 2016).

  • Assessment of environmental conditions and energy consumption in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, USA (2015-2016).

dictionary's webpage
Home page of the Dictionary of Art Restoration available on-line at www.artrestorationdictionary.pk.edu.pl
  • Strategy for the climate control in the building of the former United States National Guard Armory for the Wende Museum, Los Angeles (2015).

  • Diagnosis of the microclimate-induced risks to the ‘Last Judgment’ Triptych by Hans Memling at the National Museum in Gdańsk and analysis of the integrity of painting’s pictorial layer using the speckle pattern interferometry (2014-2015).

  • Design of the energy efficient storage for the National Archive in Krakow (2014-2015).

  • Development of a comprehensive methodology of risk analysis for the collections of the National Museum in Krakow, identifying the most endangered parts of the collections and possible risk‑mitigation measures (2012-2015).

  • Monitoring the environmental parameters in St Michael’s Chapel and adjoining rooms in the Pieskowa Skała Castle, near Krakow, the branch of the Wawel Royal Castle, to determine climate‑induced risks and the preservation strategy (2014-2015).

  • Monitoring damage accumulation in objects displayed in the Furniture Gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London using the acoustic emission and speckle pattern interferometry methods (2013-2015).

  • Design of the energy efficient storage for the National Museum in Krakow (2014).

  • Monitoring the microclimate to develop the preservation strategy for the underground exposition space in the collegiate church in Wiślica, Poland show-casing a unique Romanesque gypsum flooring – project of the World Monuments Fund of New York (2002-2003 and again 2013-2014).

  • Investigations of the preservation state of fragments of medieval Nubian wall paintings from Faras in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw, using non-invasive optical methods – thermography and speckle pattern interferometry (2013).

  • Monitoring the microclimate and the display conditions in the premises of the Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw to determine climate-induced risks and the preservation strategy (2012-2013).

  • The White House in the palace and park site of the Royal Łazienki in Warsaw – investigations, diagnosis, conservation programme (2011).

  • Cooperation in the development of European standard EN 15759-1:2011 “Conservation of cultural property – Indoor climate – Part 2: Guidelines for heating churches, chapels and other places of worship” within the activities of Technical Committee 346 “Conservation of Cultural Heritage” of the European Standardization Committee CEN (2011).

  • Cooperation in the development of European standard EN 15757:2010 “Conservation of Cultural Property – Specifications for temperature and relative humidity to limit climate-induced damage in organic hygroscopic materials” within the activities of Technical Committee 346 “Conservation of Cultural Heritage” of the European Standardization Committee CEN (2010).

  • Monitoring the indoor microclimate in Grand Master’s Palace, the Grand Refectory and the Infirmary in the Castle Museum in Malbork, Poland to diagnose risks to collections caused by instability of the humidity conditions; implementing the climate control (2006-2008, and 2010).

  • Monitoring the microclimate in St Paul’s Cave in Ephesus, Turkey and developing the strategy to limit water condensation on early-Christian wall paintings in the cave. An expert opinion for the Austrian Archaeological Mission to Ephesus (2005-2008).

  • Corrosion mechanism for royal metal sarcophagi in the Royal Crypts of the Metropolitan Wawel Cathedral, Krakow – year-long monitoring of the microclimate to determine risks and the preservation strategy (2007-2008).

  • Monitoring the microclimate in the Assumption of St Mary Church of Bernardines in Skępe to optimally implement a conservation heating system (2006-2008).

  • Diagnosis of damage to a unique artifact of Japanese lacquer – ‘the Mazarin Chest’ in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London through measuring water vapour adsorption and diffusion as well as moisture-induced dimensional change of materials contained in objects of Japanese lacquer. An expert opinion for the Museum in the framework of multi-year research and conservation programme of the chest (2005-2008).

A crack pattern on the surface of the chest with the Japanese lacquer
A crack pattern on the surface of the Mazarin family chest in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
  • Monitoring the microclimate in a historical wooden church in Szalowa, Poland to assess the impact of an overhead radiant heating on the indoor environment of the church (2004-2005).

  • Monitoring the impact of humidity on polychrome wood; year-long monitoring of microclimate parameters in a historical wooden church in Dębno Podhalańskie, Poland to determine risks and the preservation strategy – project of the World Monuments Fund of New York (1999 – 2000).

  • Determining water vapour adsorption and moisture-induced dimensional change of leather being the substrate of historical gilt leather wall-hangings in rooms of the Wawel Royal Castle; year-long monitoring of the microclimatic conditions in the Bird Room to determine risks and the preservation strategy to the gilt leather collection (1997-1998).   

  • Mechanism of damaging impact of moisture and salts on the Baroque stucco marble in the framework of the research and conservation programme in the Dukes’ Chapel in Krzeszów, Poland (1996-1999).

  • Composition and structure of cement renders of the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries – in the framework of the research programme of the facades of I. K. Poznański’s palace and factory in Łódź (1995-1996).

  • Analysis of concentrations of highly-soluble chlorides and nitrates in historical renders and mechanism their interaction with water vapour – in the framework of conservation of salt-laden walls of Entrance Gateway of the Wawel Royal Castle, Krakow (1993-1994).

  • Mechanism of sulphate corrosion damaging the brick masonry – in the framework of the conservation works of the elevations of the Gdańsk City Hall (1992-1993).

  • Mechanism of sulphate corrosion of dolomite; dissolution, transport and crystallization of magnesium sulphates in the porous space of the stone; efficient methods of removal of the corrosion products – in the framework of the conservation of three Baroque gates in the wall of the Wawel Metropolitan Cathedral (1992-1993).

  • Interaction of silica sols with surfaces of porous limestones and renders; silica protective layers against sulphate corrosion – in the framework of conservation of the façade of Bishop Konarski’s Chapel of the Wawel Metropolitan Cathedral (1991).