Heritage and Conservation

Many important heritage buildings, monuments and sculptures in cities are constructed of limestone which is prone to deteriorate in polluted atmospheric conditions. Understanding moisture relations at the surface of limestone is fundamental both to understanding the reactions involved in limestone deterioration and to judging the success of conservation treatments. This project aims at addressing the lack of high resolution, near-surface methods to monitor pollutant gases and water vapour exchange in limestone, and identify how this is affected by conservation treatments.