Restoration of cultural property

▷The art objects
▷The paintings or drawings
▷Printed books, libraries, archives
▷Papers, handwritten notes, parchments, incunabula
▷Stone elements, sculptures, architectural elements

 

When you notice stains on a work of art: paintings, various objects..., a microbiological analysis allows you to know if micro-organisms, still active, are involved in the appearance of these deteriorations.
To do this, it is necessary to take a swab sample and then send the samples to our laboratory for analysis.
On receipt of swab samples, we perform inoculation on Petri dishes. Agars of different composition allow us to differentiate the various micro-organisms still active: bacteria, fungi or yeasts. The most dangerous for collections are cellulolytic and proteolytic species: Aspergillus, Penicillium, Eurotium, Chaetonium, Aureobasidium, etc. The very rapid proliferation of Trichoderma and Penicillium, Chrysogenum, requires special measures.

If the restorer wants to perform the diagnosis himself and the support allows it, instead of swabbing, he can directly apply a double-sided agar strip of MICROTEST B (one side for bacteria and one side for fungi and yeasts) on the work, if contact with the agar does not deteriorate the medium to be analyzed.
MICROTEST B agars are supplemented with neutralizing agents to inactivate disinfectant residues that could migrate into the agars and inhibit germ growth.
After incubation, the agar slides will reveal the active microorganisms.

Swabbing without swabbing with MICROTEST B
Swabbing with a swab to inoculate the MICROTEST B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is possible, if necessary, to deal with the ORGANCIDE QC 50 or a 50% solution of benzalkonium chloride or'Alcoholic or Aqueous EconacidThis can be done by using the formulations developed by the Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques, if the infestation is small.
If it is more extensive, on the other hand, it is better to treat with ethylene oxide, in a specialized structure.

France Organo Chimique offers you