Conservation in the Regalia room, Archbishop's Palace (Trondheim) in 2010

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).

About 10 years ago, as I was working with the Restoration Workshop of Nidaros Cathedral, the first phase of a conservation project for the murals was completed. This phase was mainly related to the west wall that is strongly influenced by salt weathering. Since then the condition of the murals and the indoor climate have been monitored. In 2009 the Restoration Workshop, which is responsible for the Archbishop’s Palace, decided to continue the project, considering all the paintings in the room.

Just like 10 years ago, conservator Andreas Franz joined the project and together we mapped all visible damages to the paintings, using Andreas’ Divisual mapping system. Many problems are related to poor original mortars, others to fissures and cracks, and previous water infiltration. A next stept was securing loose fragments of paint and plaster, done by Andreas together with Silke Zeich, while I worked on assessing the risks to the paintings, especially by comparing the current condition with what can be seen on old photos, thus getting an idea of weathering rates.

Conservation work and monitoring will continue and I will post updates when reports become available.

Links:

• The Restoration Workshop of Nidaros Cathedral
• Andreas Franz: a)af restaurierungen gmbh
• Divisual

Previous reports:

• Storemyr, P. & Franz, A. (2002): The Regalia Room Mural Paintings Conservation Preoject, Trondheim, Norway: Conservation Measures and Monitoring of Salt Weathering 2001-2002. Report No. 2002.051, Expert-Center for Conservation of Monuments and Sites, Zürich, 43 p. Download PDF (4,6 MB)
• Franz, A. & Storemyr, P (2001): Conservation of Mural Paintings in the Regalia Room, Archbishop’s Palace, Trondheim, Norway 1999-2005: Emergency Conservation of the West Wall and Scientific Investigations 2000. NDR-report, no. 1/2001, 41 p. Download PDF (4,1 MB)
• Franz, A. & Storemyr, P. (2000): The 17th Century Mural Paintings in the Regalia Room, Archbishop’s Palace, Trondheim, Norway. History, Paint Technology and Weathering of the West Wall. With contribution from Küng, A. NDR-report, no. 0001, 66 p. Downlaod PDF (5,6 MB)

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