The key role of interdisciplinarity in the conservation of fire-damaged paper heritage

Résumé 0

The project CREMIB-Conservation et Restauration des Manuscrits et des Incunables Brulés-was set up in the years 2019-2021 in the field of paper heritage conservation. The research was aimed at developing an innovative green chemistry treatment for the strenghtening of written cultural heritage harmed by fire and excluded from access and even from simple handling because of their fragility. From the very beginning the project involved humanists, scientists, conservators and was carried out with the collaboration of the staff of libraries keeping charred manuscripts and incunabula, the Médiathèque L'Apostrophe in Chartres (France) and the Library of the Episcopal Seminary in Padua (Italy). Interdisciplinarity played a key role in directing the research towards the development of a nanocomposite formulation compatible with the paper matrix and efficient in limiting the tendency to fragmentation and material loss in charred paper while not changing its historic and optical properties.