Scientific teams restoring the Acropolis monuments will demonstrate their innovative new technique of using lasers to clean antique marble surfaces from March 24 to April 4 at six U.S. universities.
The presentations will be organized by the Institute of Electronic Structures and Lasers of the Foundation for Research and Technology (IIDL-ITE) and the Acropolis Restoration Service (YSMA), and will be funded by the Onassis Foundation‘s University Seminars Program.
A six-lecture cycle entitled “The Acropolis Restoration Project and the Laser Application” will be presented at the faculties of art history/conservation, archaeology and architecture at Columbia, Yale, Pennsylvania, Boston, Delaware and Stony Brook Universities.
The lectures will be delivered by YSMA head, Vassiliki Eleftheriou and Dimitrios Agglo, an IIDL-ITE scientist and chemistry professor at the University of Crete. The lectures aim to present the Acropolis’ restoration project and the innovative laser-cleaning technique that has been applied daily for the past 12 years to the monument and its sculptures.
The innovative laser technique was developed by the IIDL-ITE research team in Heraklion, Crete for the cleaning of marble. By the simultaneous use of two laser beams, the operator can accurately remove deposits of contaminants from the surface of the sculptures, ensuring that the original substrate won’t become discolored or suffer any other damage.
The laser conservation project started in 2001 and includes the cleaning of the west frieze of the Parthenon, the ceiling of the porches of the Caryatids and of the Caryatids themselves.
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