LASER CLEANING OF MONUMENTS FROM THE LAPIDARIUM OF THE ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN SPLIT

Sa？etak Over the past few years stones and marble objects of the lapidarium of the Archaeological Museum in Split have been systematically restored and conserved. This paper presents a part of the works performed on a stone stele cleaned in August 2018 and two marble structures cleaned in June 2017. Laser cleaning method was used for cleaning these monuments, and similarities and differences in the approach of cleaning limestone and marble are portrayed in the paper. At first glance all the monuments are in the same or very similar microclimatic conditions, however, after observing and studying each monument individually, one can detect different degrees and extent of pollution. Many factors impact the condition and appearance of a monument, e.g. type of material, surface preparation methods, position and placement of a monument within the lapidarium, its appearance, impact of vegetation inside the museum garden, etc. The procedures used during conservation and restoration consist in combining many different physical and chemical methods customized to each monument separately. Such an approach has yielded very good results in all three treated monuments, and in cases where the results have been unsatisfactory, the surfaces have not been excessively cleaned by other methods