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   Sector for Control of the Museum Climate Sector leader Tatyana F. Bolshakova The control of the museum's climate is the work of four research workers whose activity consists of monitoring the temperature, moisture and light regimes; determining the optimal conditions for safe-guarding the museum collections; and managing the microclimate with the help of autonomous devices for its stabilization and air conditioning systems. In the laboratory we study the conditions for storing and displaying art objects in small spaces such as closed show-cases and wooden or metallic boxes for transportation. We also investigate the degree of influence of the human factor, such as visitor levels, on the status of the microclimate in the museum rooms. Within the State Hermitage systematic climatic monitoring is carried out with the help of modern testing and measuring equipment. Ever since 1999 the museum has a system of automatic control of the temperature and moisture of the air which was developed by a group of St Petersburg engineers and computer programmers (Scientific and Research Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, ZAO Ekar-invest) and put into operation by the staff in the sector. Every ten minutes sensors located in the museum rooms and storage facilities transmit to the server information on the levels of the temperature and humidity regimes. The information so received is stored in the computer memory and can then be easily used to analyse the concrete situation and to take optimal decisions on regulating the microclimate in the premises. At present we have a radio-controlled system by Hanwell which allows us not only to monitor the temperature and humidity regime but also the levels of lighting and UV-radiation. Moreover, we use electronic recorders of both temperature and moisture (loggers) which register changes in the atmosphere immediately next to a given exhibit, both in the museum and during transportation for temporary exhibitions. The data from climatic monitoring are required by the power utility service of the State Hermitage for operational management of the utilization regimes of the two systems of heating (water and air) and three systems of air conditioning with a view to creating the best possible conditions for storing the collections in the five buildings of the museum complex. In rooms where an air conditioning system does not exist, devices with their own autonomous sources of electricity are used, that is air dryers and humidifiers. In exhibition rooms we use show-cases with enhanced hermetic seals using both active and passive means to control relative humidity: in the first case, this means show-cases with mechanical stabilization of moisture; in the second case, it means show-cases using sorbents. The State Hermitage is the first Russian museum to have implemented these methods in its operations. |
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