Abstract:

Albania has a considerable number of wooden medieval pictures which are conserved in churches, monasteries and museums. The problem of restoration lead us in organizing a scientific research on wood identification and deterioration of some icons from Middle Age Museum of Berati , where there are about 350 icons, among of 4500 icons all over Albania, a very precious wooden artwork heritage.

The technique used for the anatomic study of the icons was the resin inclusion. The microscope observations showed that three icons belong to Juglans regia L. (a very typical specie of the forests of that area) and only one belongs to Populus sp., probably Populus alba L., because it’s the only one species naturally grown in Osumi valley in the south of Albania.Accurate observations and measurements have been done for the inspection of wood deterioration, which showed considerable fungi decay and insect damages, especially from Anobium punctatum. The method of vacuum was used for insect disinfection of icons. The process of wood identification is going on for the other icons in the restoration process.

As the result of this work, the Department of Wood Industry has decided to incorporate a new subject in the second level (Master degree) curriculum, which is titled “ The restoration and conservation of wooden artworks”. Students are very interested on this subject.

Keywords:

Icon, wood identification, wood deterioration, second level curriculum.