University of Fine Arts, Bucharest, Romania

Preserving Medieval Art with GIS

Mural conservation requires a continuous effort in Romania, where there are literally thousands of square meters of medieval wall paintings. With the refinement of georeferenced sensing and measuring techniques, GIS technology has been successfully adapted for use on small areas that require sectional analysis such as murals and other "microsystems."

In an effort to expedite the evaluation process of its murals, as well as reduce costs and improve the quality and consistency of the restoration, the University of Fine Arts in Bucharest is considering a digital survey method using spatial referencing technologies to create a database for mural conservation.

Using ArcView GIS and the ArcView Image Analysis extension, as well as remote sensing and digital photogrammetry, the university has successfully tested the feasibility of employing GIS as a standard element of the mural restoration process.

To perform an effective restoration on a mural, the conservator has to know in detail how the original wall painting was created and the nature of past interventions, much like a geologist would analyze a particular terrain in preparation for mapping in anticipation of possible remedial actions. In addition, the conservator must determine, as accurately as possible, the current condition of the mural, including all types of deterioration, including exfoliated regions, salted areas, and humidity damage, as well as establish a correlation with other information such as chemical analyses, humidity measurements, and operational tests.

All this data must be "mapped" onto the mural to ensure not only that the best conservation approach is being implemented, but also that current interventions will facilitate any need for future restoration.

Evaluating a mural in preparation for restoration is a time-consuming, labor intensive activity. The traditional evaluation includes two components: a line drawing of the mural's geometric features and a written description of its current condition. The various stages of progress are also carefully documented during the restoration process.

Since documentation is a very important part of artwork conservation, the implementation of a GIS was evaluated by the university because of its ability to store and spatially reference a wide variety of information. It was felt that GIS and related technologies could help the conservators achieve better accuracy during the restoration, allow easier symbolization and record updating, provide cross-linking capabilities with other data, and reduce overall costs.

An initial step in mural restoration is making detailed sketches or photographs of the current condition of the artwork. By using close-range photogrammetric techniques, photographic images are mapped onto a coordinate system established on the mural. This provides far greater flexibility and accuracy in this stage of the evaluation process than more traditional methods.

Digital processing is performed using ArcView Image Analysis software, which is used primarily to rectify the photographic images.

Next, ArcView GIS is used to document the critical areas of the mural, such as deteriorated regions, fissure lines, and injection points, and create composite reference layers for each unique deterioration phenomenon using standard GIS methodology. Georeferenced to each layer is a database with information describing the nature of the degradations, the substances used for conservation, the procedures undertaken, related photographs and drawings, and so on. In addition, the results of laboratory analyses and humidity and climate/microclimate measurements are spatially referenced in the database.

By implementing a creative approach to artwork preservation, staff at the University of Fine Arts in Bucharest believe that the use of GIS and related technologies can aid in their efforts to preserve their cultural heritage.

For more information, contact Mr. Florian Petrescu, marketing director at Esri Romania (tel.: 40-1-231-13-81, fax: 40-1-231-12-77).

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