On February 19, 2021, Professor Wiesław Domasłowski, an expert in the field of stone restoration, passed away at the age of 94 in the city of Toruń, Poland
As one of the most prominent professors and an outstanding chemist, Wiesław Domasłowski was regarded as a respected expert in the field of stone restoration both in Poland and abroad. As an author and reviewer, he published numerous scientific studies and over 100 scholarly publications in this field.
On February 19, 2021, Professor Wiesław Domasłowski passed away at the age of 94 in the city of Toruń, Poland. He was the founder and director of the Institute for the Conservation of Architectural Elements and Details at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and director of the Institute for Conservation and Monument Studies. In addition, from 1968 to 1985, he headed the Scientific and Research Laboratory for Stone and Glass Conservation at the National Museum in Kraków.
This highly esteemed scholar spent his entire career at Nicolaus Copernicus University. There, in 1947, he began his studies in chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and defended both his master’s thesis and his doctoral dissertation, titled “Research on the Technology of Materials for the Grouting and Reconstruction of Stone Sculptures and Architectural Details.”
His research focused primarily on the conservation of stone monuments, particularly the use of synthetic resins in the preservation of historical monuments and the conservation of stone objects and ceramics. International conservation campaigns took him, among other places, to the monumental stone sculptures of the Moai on Easter Island, to the Temple of Hatshepsut in Egypt, and to the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
Wiesław Domasłowski was a pioneer in his field; he is considered the father of methodical stone conservation and played a major role in establishing it as an independent scientific discipline. In 1977 and 1979, as a member of ICOMOS and a UNESCO representative, he gave lectures on stone conservation at the UNESCO international courses in Venice. From 1989 to 1991, his work took him to Germany, where he joined the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne. There, he headed the first department dedicated to stone conservation.
He retired in 1996 but continued to collaborate with Nicolaus Copernicus University and teach students. In total, he supervised over 150 master’s students and 13 doctoral candidates.
Just ten days before his death, on February 9, 2021, his beloved wife, Wacława Szmidel-Domasłowska—herself a heritage conservationist and painting restorer, as well as a recognized expert in the conservation of amber and ivory—had passed away.
