Category Archives: Monument conservation

St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow – on a cold winter day 25 years ago

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Per Storemyr

I’m getting thousands of my old slides scanned at the moment. Since I’m not doing it myself, I reckoned that the “post-production” and archiving would cost me a few hours’, perhaps a day’s work. I was utterly wrong.

Posted in Monument conservation, Weathering history | Tagged historic photos, Moscow, St. Basil's Cathedral | Leave a comment

Impressions from summer fieldwork in Norway

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Per Storemyr

Over the last few weeks I’ve been back in Norway for projects on conservation of medieval castle ruins, as well as on provenance of medieval and more modern building stone. Here are some impressions!*

Posted in Archaeology, Monument conservation, New projects, Norway, Old quarries, Rock art, Ruins | Tagged conservation, marble, Nidaros Cathedral, Nidarosdomen, Norway, quarry, rock art, Trondheim | Leave a comment

New York Times: “Egypt or Central Park: Where Does an Ancient Obelisk Belong?”

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Per Storemyr

The issue of bringing Central Park’s Cleopatra’s Needle back to Egypt is still in the media. See this recent video from New York Times on the weathering of the New Kingdom obelisk: …and check out these blog posts of mine … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Monument conservation, Weathering history | Tagged Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra's Needle, conservation, New York, obelisk, weathering | Leave a comment

Cooperation with Norwegian conservation company

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Per Storemyr

An agreement of cooperation has been signed with the Norwegian conservation company “Bakken & Magnussen AS” in Trondheim, Norway. The idea is to expand the competence of the conservation company with services related to conservation science and geoarchaeology. Bakken & … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Monument conservation, New projects, Norway | Tagged conservation, Cultural heritage, Norway, ruin, soapstone, weathering | Leave a comment

Cleopatra’s Needle: Egyptian concern about the NYC obelisk

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Per Storemyr

A few days ago Secretary General Zahi Hawass of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities expressed grave concern about the condition of Cleopatra’s Needle of NYC and even threatened to take the obelisk back to Egypt if care is not … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Monument conservation, Weathering history | Tagged Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra's Needle, historic photos, New York, obelisk, weathering | Leave a comment

Cleopatra’s Needle: Tracing obelisk weathering with old photos

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Per Storemyr

Historic photos are essential for research on monument weathering. With free internet access to archives, such photos are now easier to find than previously. Below, I will show the case of Cleopatra’s Needle, a famous Ancient Egyptian obelisk transferred to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Archaeology, Monument conservation, Weathering history | Tagged Alexandria, Ancient Egypt, Aswan, Cleopatra's Needle, granite, Heliopolis, historic photos, London, Luxor, New York, obelisk, Paris, weathering | 10 Comments

Stone weathering at the westernmost coast of Norway

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Per Storemyr

As probably one of only very few monuments globally, the ruined Selja medieval abbey off the westernmost coast of Norway is built from a metamorphic olivine stone (dunite) rich in talc. The combination of a hard olivine matrix and soft … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Monument conservation, New projects, Norway, Ruins, Weathering history | Tagged conservation, historic photos, Norway, olivine, salt, Selja, weathering | 1 Comment

New publications 2009-2010

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Per Storemyr

Though published some months ago, I would like to briefly present four of my most recent publications. Two derives from the EU QuarryScapes project, two from a conference last year in Trondheim about new research at Nidaros Cathedral.

Posted in Ancient Egypt, Monument conservation, New publications, Norway, Old quarries, Weathering history | Tagged Ancient Egypt, Aswan, Gharb Aswan, grinding stone, marble, Nidaros Cathedral, Nidarosdomen, Norway, Nubia, soapstone, Trondheim, weathering | Leave a comment

Cooperation with CSC Conservation Science Consulting, Fribourg

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Per Storemyr

From 2008 to August 2010 I worked for CSC Conservation Science Consulting in Fribourg (CH), which is run by Christine Bläuer and Bénédicte Rousset. We undertook several exciting projects together, for example mapping the building stones – the Pierre jaune … Continue reading →

Posted in Monument conservation, New projects, Switzerland | Tagged conservation, Switzerland, weathering | Leave a comment

Return to murals in the Archbishop’s Palace, Trondheim

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Per Storemyr

One of my first projects after the establishment of “Per Storemyr Archaeology & Conservation Services” in August 2010 implied a return to 17th century murals in the entirely painted Regalia room of the Archbishop’s Palace (Trondheim, Norway).