Cultural Heritage, Chemistry and Spectroscopy

Cultural Heritage is the foundation on which humanity has built its collective memory and identity. Preserving cultural heritage therefore is a very important issue all over the world. During the last decades, the development of spectroscopy and other analytical techniques applied to ancient and other cultural heritage materials has focused on research with the aim of gaining valuable information on cultural-historical material compositions, chemical and physical transformations, ageing properties and working techniques for materials analysis.

Advanced spectroscopy in chemistry opens up new opportunities in cultural heritage and preservation science, because of the development of innovative analytical applications which are precise, non-invasive and non-destructive by nature. Over the last few years, portable, hand-held instrumentations have been developed for making direct measurements (in situ screening) on artworks, in buildings and in archaeological sites.

Students will acquire knowledge and understanding of cultural heritage materials, as well as the applications and handling techniques common to all fields of preservation. The objectives of the course are to become acquainted with the spectroscopy tools for studying cultural heritage materials, and to be able to identify these materials and understand their specific nature and functions in the ancient artifacts, in addition to the specific techniques of their use.

Students will learn to apply knowledge of the properties and chemical composition of old traditional pigments when analysing and studying colours using VIS spectroscopy and CIE Lab-colour measurements. In choosing analytical methods, non-destructive and  micro analytical techniques such as XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy), SEM-EDS (scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscopy), FTIR (Fourier transform spectroscopy), Raman and NMR spectroscopy will be emphasized.

Further, the course will enable students to learn and identify the most important groups of organic cultural heritage natural materials. They will also have a good command of the different effects chemical composition has on the use and ageing properties of these materials. Students will learn about the most important methods for testing and analysing both synthetic and natural organic materials. These skills will help to estimate the age and or authenticity of cultural heritage objects.

Prerequisite level: Eurobachelor in Chemistry (www.chemistry-eurolabels.eu) or an equivalent degree.

Question related to the course, please contact to the Coordinator Kristiina Wähälä, kristiina.wahala (at) Helsinki.fi. Any questions on the general arrangements (accommodation, scholarship, etc.) should be addressed to the Summer School's office at summer-school@helsinki.fi.