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Laboratory for Scientfic Restoration of Sculpture and Coloured Stones Laboratory director Konstantin N. Blagoveshchensky The activity of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Coloured Stones consists of carrying out conservation and restoration measures on works of sculpture made from various materials including marble, limestone, granite, plaster, terracotta and wax, and also on objects of decorative and applied art made from various types of coloured stone such as jasper, malachite, lapis lazuli, porphyry and quartz. The restorers work with all types of art works: miniature gems and large-size marble statues and sculptural groups, small statuettes suitable for a desk and huge stone vases, table-tops and candelabra decorating the staircases and galleries of the Hermitage. The present-day activity of the laboratory is based on many-year experience of conserving sculptures in Russia. The history of restoring rarities at the Hermitage goes back almost 200 years. The first documentary evidence of "cleaning and fixing" statues in the museum dates from 1812. During the second half of the 19th century, a special workshop was created under the guidance of the well-known artists A.I. Terebenev, A.K. Belyayev and M.A. Chizhov. In the mid-20th century, I.V. Krestovsky made a significant contribution to the definition of the key principles of restoring sculpture when he developed and applied many methods and technologies. The laboratory acquired its present status in the 1970s, when, under the leadership of the expert restorer and artist M.N. Lebel, research and experimental work was carried out, the history of restoration of sculpture in Western Europe and Russia was studied and traditional methods of restoration were improved. At that time a number of new methodologies were developed and mastered and work was carried out on a great number of works of sculpture dating from different ages. Many art restorers were trained and prepared for certification. The activity of the laboratory includes a broad spectrum of different applications. Besides carrying out practical restoration and conservation work, there is monitoring of the conservation status of monuments in the permanent exhibitions of the museum and in its storerooms. Together with the curators and staff from the Department of Scientific and Technical Expertise, preliminary investigations are carried out on exhibits and necessary professional appraisals are made of the state of conservation of art works. Besides the results of visual and technical research, when restoration programmes are formulated consideration is also given to the appropriateness of making modern additions and the restorers take into account the compatibility of new materials with the original material of the work of art. Documenting the state of preservation of works of sculpture and all restoration processes is one of the key principles of all activity relating to the protection of monuments. For this reason the laboratory is deploying computer technologies which make it possible not only to quickly and accurately determine the specific features of the condition of monuments but also to optimize search, systematization and safe-keeping of the information obtained. The basic principles of restoring sculpture pertain also to works of decorative and applied art made of coloured stone. In the second half of the 20th century the Hermitage set up a workshop in which I.P. Andreyev and O.F. Platonov carried out work restoring objects from coloured stone. Here modern technologies of conserving the original surface are combined with traditional methods whereby lost fragments are reproduced using the same materials as the original, meaning the same variety of stone as in the original work. One of the topical tasks at the present time is to restore vases and table-tops made in the technique of Russian mosaic. The laboratory staff are developing a methodology which makes it possible to restore the crumbling fragments of a mosaic without having to move large-size exhibits from the museum rooms into a workshop. The laboratory is also conducting active work to master and put in practice methods for conserving monuments which are located in the open air. Art restorers from the Hermitage maintain close and fruitful ties with technologists at the Committee for Preservation of Monuments and the Research Institute "Spetsproektrestavratsiya." In 1998 the laboratory staff took part in the first application of technology for restoring monuments made of Pudozh limestone (the sculptures Achilles and Ajax by F.F. Shchedrin on the Admiralty building) developed by a group of specialists under the leadership of S.A. Shadrin ("Spetsproektrestavratsiya"). Moreover, art restorers from the Hermitage participate in the restoration and conservation of unique pieces of monumental and decorative sculpture around St Petersburg: marble sculptures in the Summer Gardens, the sculpture of the Rostral Columns and the warriors on the Admiralty tower. The laboratory staff maintain professional contacts with colleagues from other Russian and foreign museums which have resulted in traineeships in such institutions as the Glyptothek Restoration Laboratories in Munich, the Ratgen Research Laboratories in Berlin, the Palazzo Spinelli Institute of Art and Restoration in Florence, as well as in one of the leading state restoration centres of Italy - the Manufactory of Coloured Stones and Restoration Laboratories of Florence.
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