to secure the paper treasures. Photo: Frati & Livi

to secure the paper treasures. Photo: Frati & Livi

The severe flooding in Venice in November 2019 caused devastating damage. Bolognese restorer Piero Livi saved the lagoon city from the loss of immeasurable cultural assets Church buildings, villas and libraries in Venice were flooded with salt water. On the day of the worst flood, November 12, 2019, the water was 70 centimetres high in St. Mark’s Basilica. Experts only had […]

The severe flooding in Venice in November 2019 caused devastating damage. Bolognese restorer Piero Livi saved the lagoon city from the loss of immeasurable cultural assets


Noch nicht einmal 24 Stunden nach dem Hochwasser war Piero Livi gemeinsam mit seinem Team in Venedig, um die Papierschätze zu sichern. Foto: Frati & Livi
Less than 24 hours after the flood, Piero Livi and his team were in Venice to secure the paper treasures. Photo: Frati & Livi

Church buildings, villas and libraries in Venice were flooded with salt water. On the day of the worst flood, November 12, 2019, the water was 70 centimetres high in St. Mark’s Basilica. Experts had little time to save books, scrolls of paper and manuscripts. Restorer Piero Livi, owner of the Bolognese company Frati & Livi, took on the task and prevented a serious loss of Venice’s cultural treasures.

Less than 24 hours after the flood, Piero Livi and his team were in Venice to secure the paper treasures. Time is of the essence when it comes to soaked paper, explains the restorer. “If a book gets wet, it starts to go moldy within 48 hours.” For this reason, the books are stored in containers at a temperature of minus 20 degrees right at the start of the restoration. This is because cold prevents paper from rotting.

A freeze-drying technique was then used to remove the moisture from the books. Piero Livi’s company’s system has space for a 20-meter-long row of books. The drying cycle depends on the amount of water absorbed and usually takes four to five days. In the final step, the books are pressed, disinfected and shaped. He was unable to restore them to their original condition, says Livi, but ensured that they could still be of use.

Read more in the upcoming issue of RESTAURO 6/2020 on the cover topic of art handling.

POTREBBE INTERESSARTI ANCHE

Archikon 2023

Building design
The visualization shows a building with an open façade in the background. In front of it is a stream with animals and a green bank. Next to it, people are out and about.

Archikon is looking for new working environments - like this one for the New Bantlinstrasse Urban Space Ideas Workshop, City of Reutlingen. © asp Architekten GmbH Stuttgart (AG with Treibhaus Landschaftsarchitektur, Hamburg - Steteplanung, Darmstadt)

The State Congress for Architecture and Urban Development will take place in Stuttgart on April 19. The event will focus on the topics of “Work – Life – Places: When work changes, places change”. Find out more about the ARCHIKON 2023 congress and the program here.

The State Congress for Architecture and Urban Development will take place in Stuttgart on April 19. The event will focus on the topics of “Work – Life – Places: When work changes, places change”. Find out more about the ARCHIKON 2023 congress and the program here.

The 20th century paradigm of the separation of functions still has an impact on urban planning today. Transformations in the work process have an impact on neighborhoods, architecture and the environment. If there is a shift towards a more sustainable economy in the future, this will also have an impact on built structures. For this reason, the State Congress for Architecture and Urban Development chose the theme “Work – Life – Places” for this year’s edition of ARCHIKON. When work changes, places change”. Both the upheaval in the economy and the advancing digitalization demand a statement in architecture. For Markus Weismann, State Board Member of the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects and Chairman of the New Working Worlds Strategy Group, this debate is not limited to the redesign of the classic office building: “Against the backdrop of comprehensive structural change, we should be much more concerned with intelligent, networked work on all scales.”

And so, on April 19, ARCHIKON 2023 will set itself the task of questioning existing structures. The aim is to involve all generations in the development of new solutions. The congress will offer a wide range of events to attract a broad audience. On the one hand, ARCHIKON 2023 will take a look at overarching framework conditions. On the other hand, it will also look at individual scale levels in detail. Input from the fields of regional and urban planning as well as interior design, and the examination of cultural, social and professional aspects will provide a comprehensive picture. The program includes debates and presentations in plenary sessions as well as seminars on specialist topics.

An opening dialog will be followed by the Positions seminar series. Ten specialist lectures will be held in parallel to impart the latest knowledge and innovative solutions. Prof. Dr. Alain Thierstein from the Technical University of Munich, for example, will speak on workplaces between urban and rural areas. At the same time, Ulrich Pohl from COBE Architects in Copenhagen will be talking about the interiors of the day after tomorrow. And Ricarda Pätzold from the German Institute of Urban Affairs in Berlin will give a keynote speech on inner cities as places of work.

After the lunch break, representatives from planning, municipalities, science and business will debate the extent to which changing values are affecting the built environment. They will shed light on cultural, economic and technological aspects. The panel discussion will be followed by a second seminar block. This is entitled Reflections. The seminar topics of the morning will be reflected on in discussion rounds following keynote speeches – for example by Beat Aeberhard from the Basel Cantonal Department of Urban Planning & Architecture or Jörn Wächtler from the Adidas company in Herzogenaurach. The group of debaters is diverse. In addition to mayors and business representatives, the discussion group includes university lecturers and planners.

The second seminar block will be followed by a review of the most exciting seminar content. Markus Müller, President of the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects, and Markus Weismann will then give an outlook on professional policy. For the organizers, one thing is very clear with regard to future working environments: “Planners are affected by this change at all scales and have the opportunity to shape the changes spatially.

Registration for the congress is still open. Participation costs 185 euros for chamber members. A reduced rate is offered for young professionals, students and trainee lawyers.

Also represented as a speaker at Archikon 2023: Andrea Gebhard. Here the Chairwoman of the Federal Chamber of Architects in conversation.

On the trail of Romanesque wall paintings in Westphalia

Building design
detail). The rich ornamental design in the Westphalian style of painting is striking. The apse is decorated with the originally strongly colored

detail). The rich ornamental design in the Westphalian style of painting is striking. The apse is decorated with the originally strongly colored

In 2012, the LWL-Denkmalpflege, Landschafts- und Baukultur in Westfalen began a multi-year project which, until 2016/17, focused on art and restoration research into the most important examples of Romanesque wall painting between 1160 and 1270 in Westphalia. A publication has now been released. The need for interdisciplinary cooperation in the research of cultural monuments and their decoration has been recognized for decades […].