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E-RIHS.pl is a Polish Distributed Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science formed in December 2015. It entered a Polish Roadmap for Research Infrastructures in January 2020.

Our goals are: 

  • preparation of Poland’s accession to and participation in the organized European infrastructure: E-RIHS ERIC: European research infrastructure for scientific heritage E-RIHS.
  • development, coordination, and implementation of an integrated system supporting access of art curators, restorers and other museum specialists to modern methods of physical and chemical tests and exchange of information on the results of these tests and analyses,
  • promotion of national and pan-European scientific co-operation on physical-chemical examination of Heritage Objects
  • preparation and conduction on common research project from Heritage Science area
  • fostering exchange of experience and results of research and enhancement of cooperation of the Infrastructure members by organising conferences, workshops, and symposia. Specifically, a permanent forum of such an activity is the annual conference “Analytical Chemistry in Cultural Heritage Protection” („Analiza Chemiczna w Ochronie Zabytków”)
  • cooperation with other research infrastructures, institutions, consortia, and networks active in this field in Poland and Europe.

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At present, the infrastructure comprises:

  • Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń as a coordinator
  • Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków
  • AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków – Historical Layers Research Centre
  • Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology in Warszawa
  • Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry of Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków
  • The Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery of Polish Academy of Science in Gdańsk
  • LANBOZ – The Laboratory of Analysis and Non-destructive Investigation of Heritage Objects, National Museum in Kraków
  • National Centre for Nuclear Research
  • Warsaw University of Technology
  • Kraków University of Economics
  • Jagiellonian University in Kraków
  • University of Warsaw – Biological and Chemical Research Centre
  • University of Wrocław

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Our offer:

The primary mode of operation of the infrastructure is the offer of free examinations to curators and restorers, thus enabling their access to high-class research procedures. The offer is organized into two platforms:

  • MOLAB.PL: examination, carried out by a mobile research team, takes place in-situ (e.g., at a museum) – the offer includes 12 research procedures;
  • FIXLAB.PL: testing takes place in a specialized laboratory offering a given procedure and utilises a non-mobile testing facility – 23 testing procedures are offered.

The offer is addressed to all institutions active in the area of cultural heritage research and protection and includes examination (in the presence of the object’s curator) by qualified research staff of infrastructure partners, as well as analysis and interpretation of results prepared in close cooperation with the curator so that the results obtained are most useful to them. In comprises:

MOLAB.PL:

  • Acoustic emission
  • X-ray fluorescence XRF Artax 800)
  • Multispectral photography
  • Digital Speckle Pattern Interferometry
  • Complementary laser spectroscopy techniques for material analysis (micro-Raman, LIF, LIBS)
  • Digital image correlation method for field displacement and strain measurements
  • Microfedometry
  • Hyperspectral imaging
  • OCT Optical Coherence Tomography
  • Reflective infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
  • UV – VIS – spectrophotometry
  • Laser cleaning system with monitoring by spectroscopic techniques
  • Polynomial Maps of Textures (PTM)

FIXLAB.PL:

  • Strength tests
  • Gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the application for the study of metabolic activity of fungi causing the destruction of historic objects and the study of volatile indicators of the degradation progress in historic objects
  • Gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the application for examination of binders and identification of organic compounds used in art works
  • Decontamination with an electron beam
  • Electronic Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR)
  • Identification of the origin of skins and parchments
  • Identification of microbiological hazards
  • X-ray macrofluorescence – (MAXRF)
  • Microfedometry
  • Stereoscopic microscopy VIS
  • UV microscopy
  • Neutron Activation Analysis INAA
  • Imaging of 3D geometry as well as angular and spectral characteristics of scattering and colour
  • Radiation consolidation
  • X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD)
  • Digital X-ray radiography
  • Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersion spectrometry SEM-EDS
  • Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry LA-ICP-MS
  • FTIR spectroscopy
  • Raman spectroscopy
  • X-ray tomography
  • High performance liquid chromatography with LC-MS/MS mass spectrometry
  • Automated 3D documentation system

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Contact, infrastructure office:

prof. dr Piotr Targowski,  e-mail: ptarg@umk.pl

Institute of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University

Grudziądzka 5 Street, 87-100 Torun Poland
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