Fresco Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Conservation of frescoes== {{main|Conservation and restoration of frescos}} The climate and environment of [[Venice]] has proved to be a problem for frescoes and other works of art in the city for centuries. The city is built on a lagoon in northern Italy. The humidity and the rise of water over the centuries have created a phenomenon known as rising damp. As the lagoon water rises and seeps into the foundation of a building, the water is absorbed and rises up through the walls often causing damage to frescoes. Venetians have become quite adept in the conservation methods of frescoes. The mold [[aspergillus versicolor]] can grow after flooding, to consume nutrients from frescoes.<ref name= Bennettjw>{{cite book |author= Bennett JW|year=2010|chapter=An Overview of the Genus ''Aspergillus''|chapter-url=http://www.open-access-biology.com/aspergillus/aspergillusch1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110409144644/http://www.open-access-biology.com/aspergillus/aspergillusch1.pdf |archive-date=2011-04-09 |url-status=live|title=''Aspergillus'': Molecular Biology and Genomics|publisher=Caister Academic Press|isbn= 978-1-904455-53-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Orio Ciferri|title=Microbial Degradation of Paintings|journal=Applied and Environmental Microbiology|date=March 1999|volume=65|pages=879β885|pmc=91117|pmid=10049836|issue=3|doi=10.1128/AEM.65.3.879-885.1999|bibcode=1999ApEnM..65..879C}}</ref> The following is the process that was used when rescuing frescoes in [[La Fenice]], a Venetian opera house, but the same process can be used for similarly damaged frescoes. First, a protection and support bandage of cotton gauze and polyvinyl alcohol is applied. Difficult sections are removed with soft brushes and localized vacuuming. The other areas that are easier to remove (because they had been damaged by less water) are removed with a paper pulp compress saturated with bicarbonate of ammonia solutions and removed with deionized water. These sections are strengthened and reattached then cleansed with base exchange resin compresses and the wall and pictorial layer were strengthened with barium hydrate. The cracks and detachments are stopped with lime putty and injected with an epoxy resin loaded with micronized silica.<ref>Ciacci, Leonardo., ed, La Fenice Reconstructed 1996–2003: a building site in the city, (Venezia: Marsilio, 2003),118.</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page