LASERGLASS

"Laser technologies in the analysis, conservation and restoration of historic stained glass windows."

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Protection and conservation of historic stained glass windows is one of the most important, urging challenges for the European Cultural Heritage. Through many ages these valuable objects have been exposed to various atmospheric conditions: water, sunlight, wind, temperature changes; biological activity, human devastation and a deep air pollution. Those damaging factors caused irreversible changes in the glass structure and corroded the glass bulk. In the typical historic stained glasses the bulk glass is covered with a protective silica gel layer and with a superficial layers (corrosion crust, dirt, polymers and micro-organisms). Due to the lack of the homogeneity and the complexity of problems occurring on the corroded glass, the conservation of stained glass meets important difficulties in the chemical analysis of the bulk glass composition and in the removing of corrosion and dirt layers. The classical renovation methods employs chemical or mechanical treatments which present many disadvantages. As the alternative method, the laser cleaning was proposed. This project aims to realize the complex study on the interaction between laser irradiation and a corroded glass, followed by the construction of the laser cleaning station, dedicated to stained glass windows, equipped with LIBS and LIF. To prove the effectiveness of the developed system, the entire stained glass window panels from XVII century will be analyzed and cleaned. In the following, the obtained cleaning results will be compared with ones obtained by the traditional methods. Additionally the project will employ advanced, modern surface analysis techniques as SEM/EDX, AFM and Optical Coherence Tomography. In the evaluation step the physical, chemical, biological and climatic studies will be carry out to investigate whether laser cleaning is safe for the historical glass. In all parts of the research the stress will be put on the interdisciplinary cooperation between scientists and art conservators.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Stained glass is a treasured part of European cultural heritage, and conservation is often seen as a craftsperson's work. Now researchers have shown that scientific methods and laser technologies can be used successfully.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Researchers have established that lasers are useful tools for the conservation and restoration of stained glass windows, provided a thorough determination of suitable irradiation conditions for each one is made beforehand. Specific laser settings may be needed for the different forms of damage caused by sunlight, water, wind, dirt, temperature changes and air pollution.

The work was done as part of the 'Laser technologies in the analysis, conservation and restoration of historic stained glass windows' (LASERGLASS) project. This required a complex study on the interaction between corroded glass and lasers, by varying parameters such as wavelength and frequencies.

The aim was, as one would expect, to find the best cleaning method without causing damage to priceless examples of European cultural heritage.The researchers studied historic stained glass windows of varying ages from different locations in Poland to see if laser cleaning would be effective.

The work carried out on model samples and on the windows themselves demonstrated that irradiation with one pulse from a Nd:YAG laser could successfully remove contamination and corrosion layers.

One Polish church had glass covered in thick layers of corrosion products; a second window panel from elsewhere in the country had a corrosion crust, as well as dirt and polymer layers; the third glass, which was a colourless section of a larger window, carried a superficial layer of dark dirt.

Nevertheless, the Nd:YAG laser worked on them all.Post-irradiation, a variety of sophisticated laboratory tools were used to analyse the results.

LASERGLASS found that careful assessment in advance of the irradiation conditions for each individual case and online control of the irradiation process were the keys to success.Stained glass is an often-irreplaceable part of European heritage, and these research results form a valuable contribution to its conservation.

Museums, craftspersons and those responsible for maintaining church buildings could all benefit from this work, while the general public will be able to enjoy the full play of light through the newly cleaned windows.