Declinul laboratoarelor de investigații fizico-chimice și condiția ultimilor investigatori
The Decline of the Science Laboratories and the Condition of the Last Heritage Scientists

Summary/Abstract: Heritage science and conservation science represent interdisciplinary fields that weave together exact sciences (chemistry, physics, biology, geology) and humanistic sciences, thus providing essential information for researching, recording, classifying, preserving, restoring and enhancing cultural heritage for exhibition purposes. Unfortunately, only 13 scientific investigators (physical-chemical investigations) certified as experts currently work in the Romanian museum network and, according to the author’s knowledge, about 5 others are in training, extremely few relative to the mobile heritage they are responsible for studying. The situation is all the more worrying as the number of certified investigators is decreasing every year through retirements and transfers. The training of investigators requires many years of practice. The concern is also accentuated by the lack of posts, of specialist courses and of the equipment needed for investigations. Moreover, the museum investigator / researcher is omitted from the COR (Classification of Occupations in Romania), and the idea of investigation seems to be disappearing from the collective mind. Museum labels, exhibition catalogues, conservation-restoration events, museum databases do not include and are not based on research data, even when research results exist. These problems concern the entire museum network and the passivity of decisionmakers and specialists inevitably contributes to the deterioration of cultural heritage. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to draw attention on this situation, and to justify the importance of physicochemical investigations for the knowledge, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage.

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