Gabinetto Vieusseux - Conservation Services

Conservation Services

The Conservation Center is the division of the Gabinetto Vieusseux that oversees the physical protection of the collection housed in the Institute. It collaborates with the other divisions to look over all activities that could interfere with the integrity of the documents and collections: use, storage, maintenance, exhibitions, and reproductions, etc. Making up the Center are the restoration laboratory, a laboratory for photographs and microfilm, a division for the digitalization of documents, and a specialized library that is also open to the public. The Center has created data bases in order to manage its activities; in particular, it has created files of the surveys in order to analyze the documents’ state of conservation continuously. These files keep track of the most important technical features subject to eventual mutation or damage as well as characteristic elements of the documents. The surveys, which are useful for research and can set aside specific documents, are carried out systematically on the collections in the Contemporary Archives and make up a data bank full of information about particular written materials and documented mediations from the 20th century.

Another data base has been organized for the gathering of works of art (drawings, prints, paintings, and sculpture) in the collections of the Contemporary Archives. By May 2004 there were 1,616 files for as many pieces in the collection. This archive is open to the users of the Institute. The collections of photographic material are also inspected with a detailed analysis of their state of conservation. These files were created using the “scheda F” of the Ministero per i Beni culturali e le attività culturali (BBCC; Ministry for Arts and Culture) as a reference.