Innovative monitoring campaign of the environmental conditions of the Stibbert museum in Florence

Abstract

Conservation of ancient metallic artefact displayed inside museums is a complex problem due to the large number of constraints mainly related to the artefacts fruition by people. The development of a simple procedure for monitoring the artefact conservation state promptly highlighting risky conditions without impacting on the normal museum operations could be of interest in the cultural heritage world. This paper describes the interesting results obtained by using a highly sensitive and innovative methodology for evaluating the safety level of the museum indoor areas, and more specifically of the interior of the showcases, with respect to the metallic artefacts. The methodology is based on the use of an innovative smart sensors network and of copper reference samples. The smart sensors network was employed for the continuous monitoring of temperature and relative humidity close to the artefacts, i.e. inside the display showcases. The reference specimens were Cu coated with a 100 nm Cu nanostructured layer put for 1 year in the exhibition rooms inside and outside the showcases and characterised by means of normal imaging, colorimetric and FESEM techniques at regular intervals. The results of the monitoring activity evidenced the higher reactivity to the environmental aggressivity of the nanocoated copper specimen with respect to bulk artefacts and therefore the possibility to use them as alerts to possible corrosion phenomena that may occur to the real artefacts. A proper temperature and relative humidity monitoring inside the showcases and close to each group of artefacts is a powerful though economic and non-invasive way to highlight most of the possible critical display conditions.