Preventive conservation of the pictorial evidence in the church of Sotterra (Paola, Italy): a microclimatic investigation in a hypogeum environment

Maria Antonietta Zicarelli, Michela Ricca, Silvestro Antonio Ruffolo, Raffaella Greca, Mauro Francesco La Russa

Abstract

The conservation of subterranean sites is an issue that poses hard questions, several of which are nowadays still unanswered. In the field of preventive conservation, microclimatic investigation is fundamental as it makes possible to examine the interaction between environmental conditions and degradation phenomena which occur on the artifacts. In the present study, a microclimatic campaign for the duration of nine months was conducted inside the church of Sotterra at Paola, in the province of Cosenza (Calabria, Italy). The church, today located six metres under the ground level, represents a unicum since, despite its current location, it was originally built at ground level. The presbytery area preserves important mural paintings which date back from 11th to the 15th century which suffer severe damage due to the extreme environmental conditions. The results already obtained from the diagnostic campaign of a previous work have been combined with the thermo-hygrometric values in order to assess the conservation risks of the pictorial evidence.

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IMEKO-MetroArchaeo-2023-147.pdf

DOI

10.21014/tc4-ARC-2023.147

IMEKO TC

TC4 - Measurement of Electrical Quantities

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