Chemistry and Technology of Materials for Conservation – Restoration

The main goal of the study program is to educate academically prepared experts-chemists who will be able to assist in all aspects of the care for objects of the cultural heritage and as well as to their preservation. Museums, galleries, archives, and other institutions, having care for collecting and protecting of monuments, need plenty of experts, including specialists just in the field of technologies and materials used for conservation-restoration. A view on protection dealing with care for historical monuments and objects is in scope of permanent development and discussions. The preservation of the mentioned objects is not only the matter of conservators-restorers, occuring only in workshops and depositaries, but it is the matter of wide circle of many co-workers. The key for choosing of an optimal conservation-restoration treatment of the object is the collecting the maximally detailed information about the character and the state of an object. Thus we are arriving to the field where natural sciences and their methods are ruling. It is obvious, that necessity of an interdisciplinary cooperation between humanistic and natural sciences on the one hand and handicraft, arts and crafts on the other hand leads to the best results.

It is very important to prepare qualified workers for this activity, i.e. to deepen their specialized education, and to orientate their education interdisciplinary. Therefore, the study program of the mentioned field is focused on the common preparation of graduates, having basic education in chemical disciplines above all, and also in other natural sciences at the same time. This education gives students not only theoretical knowledge but also practical skill in fundamental methods and approaches for conservation-restoration of objects made from various materials: inorganic (metals, stone, glass, ceramics) and organic ones (textile, leather, paper, wood). The self-evident demand is the knowledge of the professional ethics and orientation in the field of humane disciplines (history of arts, museology).

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• evaluate character and state of the artifact or monument and to recommend suitable methods of material and technological exploration
• contribute to elucidation of the cause of the demage and degradation of the object or monument and suggest the solution or stepsr reducing their deterioration
• recommend a suitable conservation-restoration treatment to suggest its optimalization and choose the most suitable means, technologies and procedures or techniques
• realize basic conservational treatment of an object and prepare corresponding scientific documentation, including photo documentation
• recommend suitable conditions for the object deposition and specify a regime for further treatment
• contribute to the treatment of objects made from combined materials, based on knowledge about properties of used inorganic and organic materials

The graduates from the study program can use their theoretical and practical knowledge as workers of any institution engaged in the care for objects of the cultural heritage and their preservation. We mean employees of museums, galleries, monument trust, etc. The graduates find their employment not only in the daily working of the mentioned institutions, i.e. as workes of conservation-restoration workplaces, depositories, but they can even become a members of scientific-research centers and methodogical workplaces. It is supposed that research and development of new technologies, materials and the other means will become a part of their work. The graduates will also be able to manipulate modern devices for analyses and corresponding techniques. Education in natural sciences and knowledge of various materials, used for making objects, their nature and ways of their deterioration, open wide possibilities for the graduates not only in the field of care of natural heritage.

A bachelor graduate has a possibility to continue studies in the following master study program.

The compulsory part of the study program is the participation in a study excursion (1-3 day, according to the offer) and passing a professional practice in a chosen institution engaging in the care for cultural heritage (museum, gallery, depository, restorational workplace, etc.), lasting min. 14 days. Professional excursions are organized every year. Compulsory practice is recommended to realize in the last term of the study, but there are possibilities to do it sooner.

The Final Project is a structured written output primarily summarizing the student's results. It emphasizes experimental and creative activity, practical skills, and analytical thinking. The specific form is chosen after consultation with the supervisor of the Final Project. The estimated total length (including title page, assignment and appendices) of the Final Project is 15-40 pages. The theoretical part (Introduction) should briefly and comprehensively present the topic, it should not contain basic principles, and the recommended scope is a maximum of 10% of the total length of the Final Project.

In the practical part of the project, the student's own scientific research work on the assigned task under the supervision of a teacher is required. The content of this practical part can be devoted to a basic research topic (material analyses, etc.), to direct conservation-restoration (own intervention of an object), or to a topic dealing with preventive conservation.

Other requirements should follow common rules for final works, approved by the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University.

The graduate can continue further studies, after succsessful finishing the bachelor study program, in ongoing master study in the program Chemistry and technology of materials for conservation-restoration. Final examination of bachelor study is the key parameter of the entrance procedure for the ongoing master study. In the case of other student interest, it is possible to continue the studies in master study (after meeting entrance conditions) in other specializations.