Rainbow code of biodeterioration to cultural heritage objects

Abstract

The vast majority of cultural heritage objects consist of materials that can be subjected to biodeterioration. Currently, there is significant number of publications showing which materials are capable of destroying certain organisms, and what conservation and restoration procedures are required. However, there is neither a clear classification of these diverse events nor their visual representation. In our review, for the first time, an attempt is made to compare the type of biodeterioration, based on the destruction of a particular material, with a specific color of the rainbow. In this regard, a cultural heritage objects made of a single material are designated as one color icon; and those made of composite materials are designated as pictogram consisting of several icons of corresponding colors. For example, a stone sculpture, in accordance with the rainbow code, is assigned a gray color, which was introduced to visualize stone materials. The drum corresponds to a pictogram consisting of violet (corresponds to leather) and brown (corresponds to wood). A work of easel painting on canvas corresponds to a pictogram consisting of a red color icon (corresponds to canvas) and a gold color icon (corresponds to painting materials). We used cold color shades to denote basic inorganic materials, and cold color shades to denote organic materials. The proposed rainbow code for biodetermination is an open platform that can be expanded by adding new colors for new materials introduced, and allows to translate potentially any cultural heritage object into a pictogram with colors that correspond to the materials used in its manufacture. Such a graphical interpretation can help both systematize the storage conditions of museum exhibits and facilitate understanding of the processes of biodeterioration of composite materials. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.)