Commission Activities

The 6th CrysAC workshop on “Micro- and nano-diffraction for cultural heritage” is coming soon!

The upcoming CrysAC workshop is planned as a satellite meeting of the 33rd European Crystallographic Meeting, France (https://www.ecm33.fr/satellite-meetings). In keeping with the terms of reference of the Commission, the CrysAC workshop on "Micro- and nano-diffraction for cultural heritage" is within the series of one-day workshops organized by the IUCr Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage, aimed to stimulate knowledge exchange between crystallographers and researchers interested in Cultural Heritage investigations. Different communities are invited to present reviews of established research, recent results and envisaged trends in key areas of Archaeometry and Conservation Science.

The present workshop will invite scientists from research institutions, museums, and conservation bodies, in order to illustrate state-of-the-art applications of diffraction techniques in the sub-micron spatial resolution. Recent instrumental and methodological advances, mainly based on electron diffraction and synchrotron radiation, are opening novel fields of research on cultural heritage materials, to understand chemico-physical processes and structural transformations with unprecedented spatial resolutions.

Although only invited contributions are planned, all interested people are invited to exchange ideas and discuss the presented topics.

Microsymposium on "Crystallography for cultural heritage materials" at the 33rd European Crystallography Meeting

The microsymposium MS43 will take place on August 27, 2022 within the programme of the 33rd ECM in Versailles, Paris (https://www.ecm33.fr/program).

The section will be chaired by Dr Victor Etgens (IPANEMA, France) and Dr Silvie Švarcová (ALMA Laboratory, Czech Republic). The programme is under preparation. 

XXV IUCr Congress in Prague 2021

The CrysAC commission played an active role at the IUCr Congress in Prague which was for the first time in a hybrid form, combining both on-site and remote attendance. The chair of the commission, Gilberto Artioli, provided online an engaging and inspiring Keynote Lecture "Crystallography and cultural heritage – On beauty, science, and passion". The programme of both microsymposia organised by the commission attracted a wide audience.

The MS-78 "Science meets art: X-ray spectrometry and X-ray diffraction in art and archaeology", co-chaired by Gilberto Artioli (remote) and Sebastian Bette (on-site), was opened by an invited lecture by Katrien Keune dedicated to Operation Night Watch – the extensive investigation of Rembrandt’s masterpiece occurring in directly in the exposition in Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

The MS-85 "Science meets art: Crystallography and cultural heritage", chaired by Petr Bezdička (on-site), was opened by the invited lecture by Koen Janssens who presented the potential of MA-XRD in the fingerprinting of natural ultramarine based on the non-invasive identification of mineral phases forming the pigment.

In both microsymposia, the lecturers illustrated the importance of X-ray as well as electron diffraction techniques for the identification of materials in artworks (Christoph Berthold, Chiaramaria Stanii, Partha Pratim Das, Eva Kočí) as well as for description of secondary degradation products affecting the artworks' stability and appearance (Silvie Švarcová, Sebastian Bette). At the frontier between archaeometry and forensic science was the contribution by Hannah Louise Cross about the effects of soft tissues on crystallographic changes to the bone mineral hydroxyapatite. Symmetry in architecture, Islamic building ornaments or ivory puzzle balls was reflected in interesting lectures provided by Arie van der Lee, Peter Moeck and Grygoriy Dmytriv.

The presentations are accessible for registered participants at: IUCr 2021 - 25th IUCr Congress.

Preparation of the 6th CrysAC workshop and a microsymposium for the 33rd ECM in Versailles (August 2022)

The 6th CrysAC Workshop on "Micro- and nano-diffraction for cultural heritage" is being planned to take place as a satellite action of the 33rd European Crystallographic Meeting (Versailles, France, 23-27 August 2022). It will focus on advanced techniques for single crystal diffraction in the micro-nano regimes. It will mainly involve state of the art techniques based on synchrotron radiation and the application of ED/SPED techniques on materials of interest for cultural heritage.

The microsymposium #43 on "Crystallography for cultural heritage materials" at the 33rd ECM in Versailles is in preparation. The section will be chaired by Dr Victor Etgens (IPANEMA, France) and Dr Silvie Švarcová (ALMA Laboratory, Czech Republic).

Invited lectures

Gilberto Artioli delivered a keynote lecture on "The contribution of materials analysis to archaeological research" at the School of advanced training on "Analysis of materials in archaeology and cultural heritage", University of Trento (February 2020).

Gilberto Artioli delivered an invited lecture at the "Raw Materials University Day" on "Alpine copper: exploitation since prehistory to recent times", Università di Trento-KIC Raw Materials (November 2020). The video is available here.

CrysAC members’ activities

Cultural and Natural Heritage Workshop

Marine Cotte organized the workshop "Cultural and Natural Heritage Workshop", at ESRF (Grenoble, France, 22-24 January 2020). The following CrysAC members and consultants contributed:

1. Basic principles of X-ray spectroscopy (M. Cotte)
2. Scopes and objectives of the workshop (M. Cotte)
3. Cultural Heritage & Synchrotron Radiation: Quo Vadis? (Koen Janssens)
4. Complementary use of SR and neutrons for heritage study at NRC "Kurchatov institute" (Elena Tereschenko)

The presentations and other photos are available here.

Chemistry of Lead in Oil Paintings

Rijksmuseum Science Department hosted a workshop on the "Chemistry of Lead in Oil Paintings" (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 20-21 February 2020). The following CrysAC members and consultants contributed:

1. Tracking the chemical fate of Pb-containing pigments in works of art at different length and time scales (Koen Janssens)
2. The Reactions of PbO with Oil Studied with X-ray and infrared Microscopy (Marine Cotte)
3. The Reactivity of Lead-Based Pigments versus the Reactivity of Oils in Model Paints (Silvie Švarcová)

Other activities

Gilberto Artioli delivered a seminar on "Mineralogy, crystallography, art and archaeology: Science and passion" within the frame of "UniPadova Incontra" for high school students (Piazzola sul Brenta, February 2020).

Sebastian Bette delivered a seminar on "Calcium Acetate Hydrates: Simple Salts with Surprisingly Complex Crystal Structures" at the Joint Polish-German Crystallographic Meeting in Wroclaw (25th February 2020)

Gilberto Artioli delivered a seminar at the National Academy on "Mineralogy and cultural heritage: fatal attraction" (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma, December 2020). www.lincei.it/it/videoteca/11122020-la-mineralogia-ed-i-beni-culturali-video

The 5th CrysAC Workshop – The crystallography of ancient metals and metal corrosion

In 2019 the chair of the Commission Gilberto Artioli with Klaudia Hradil (from the Organizing Committee of 32nd ECM) prepared the 5th CrysAC workshop on "The crystallography of ancient metals and metal corrosion". It was held in Vienna on 17 August 2019.

In keeping with the terms of reference of the Commission, this CrysAC workshop was within the series of one-day workshops organized by the IUCr Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage, aimed at stimulating knowledge exchange between crystallographers and researchers interested in Cultural Heritage investigations. Different communities are invited to present reviews of established research, recent results and envisaged trends in key areas of Archaeometry and Conservation Science.

The 5th workshop invited scientists from research institutions, museums, and conservation bodies, in order to illustrate state-of-the-art applications of materials science in the field of archaeometallurgy, diagnostics and conservation of metals, authentication, corrosion processes, and other themes related to ancient metals and metallurgy.

The programme of the workshop is here.

During ECM32 in Vienna, Prof. Koen Janssens (University of Antwerp, Belgium) delivered a Public Lecture: "Examining Old Paintings with New X-Ray Methods: A Fresh Look at and below the Surface".

Preparation of the scientific programme for the 25th IUCr Congress in Prague in 2020

In May 2019, Prof. Jose-Miguel Delgado and Dr Petr Bezdička participated in the meeting "Current trends and future of Crystallography in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Materials Science" as representatives of the CrysAC Commission. This workshop was organized to prepare the scientific programme of the 25th General Assembly and Congress of the IUCr in August 2020 in Prague. As a result, it was decided that the CrysAC Commission would organize (1) or co-organize (2) the following microsymposia at the 25th IUCr congress:

1. "Global cultural heritage challenges and crystallography: Where do we stand?" co-chaired by Dr Alicja Rafalska-Łasocha
2. "X-ray spectrometry and X-ray diffraction in art and archaeology", co-chaired by Dr Petr Bezdička
3. "Science meets art: Crystallography and cultural heritage"

Invited lectures

Prof. Gilberto Artioli delivered an invited talk at the Mineralogical Society of America Centennial (1919-2019) Symposium, on "Modern mineralogy and ancient pots: The archaeometry of ceramics" (Carnegie Institution for Science Building, Washington, DC, June 20-21, 2019). The video is available here:

Dr Petr Bezdička presented an invited talk "The role of laboratory X-ray diffraction techniques in the provenance analysis of historical paintings" at the Annual meeting of the Working Group Archaeometry of the German Chemical Society on "Archäometrie und Denkmalpflege 2019" (Vienna, Austria, September 2019). Programme and extended abstracts are available here: Metalla_Jahrestagung_2019_Sonderheft_9.pdf

CrysAC members’ activities

Dr Elena Thereschenko delivered a seminar on "The principle of the sciences convergence in the museum practice" in the framework of the International Festival "Intermuseum" (May 2019, Moscow, Russia).

Prof. Gilberto Artioli delivered a seminar on "Blue colour from lapis lazuli to Klein", Open Workshop "Colour in science", Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Università di Padova (June 2019).

Dr Elena Thereschenko organized a Micro-symposium on "Natural Sciences for the Study of Cultural Heritage" in the framework of the 7th European Conference on Neutron Scattering ECNS 2019 (July 2019, St Petersburg, Russia).

Dr. Elena Thereschenko chaired the Session "Interdisciplinary research and natural history research: new opportunities for historians" at the First International St Petersburg Historical Forum (October 2019, St Petersburg, Russia).

Dr Petr Bezdička took part in the organization of the 7th interdisciplinary ALMA conference "The Colour Theme" focused on research, technology, history and conservation/restoration of fine art (16–18 October 2019, Bratislava, Slovakia).

The 4th CrysAC Workshop - Characterization of Cultural Heritage and Forensic Materials (CHEMFORS)

The 4th CrysAC Workshop CHEMFORS, organised by the Commission (Miguel Delgado) as a satellite event of the Latin American Conference of Analysis by X-ray Techniques (SARX-2018) took place in Pucon, Araucania, Chile on November 8-9, 2018.

The purpose of the workshop was to strengthen the activity that takes place in the Latin American region in the field of characterization of Cultural Heritage and Forensic Science materials. Although the theme of the workshop was centred on the use of X-ray diffraction and fluorescence techniques, applications of other techniques were presented as well.

Well-known international experts, specially invited, spoke about the application of various techniques in the solution of interesting problems associated with the conservation and preservation of our cultural heritage.

Maintaining a pedagogical orientation, for the benefit of students and young researchers, not only formal oral lecturers but also practical sessions were organized.

The whole program is available at: https://sarx-jfmf-2018.ufro.cl/en/chemfors-sarx-2018/

The 3rd CrysAC Workshop - Recent advances in the investigation of ancient mortars and binders

The 3rd CrysAC Workshop Recent advances in the investigation of ancient mortars and binders, organized by the Commission (Gilberto Artioli and Miguel Delgado), was held on May 20, 2018, before the 42nd International Symposium on Archaeometry (ISA 2018) in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

The programme of the workshop is here.

The 7th Meeting on X-ray and other techniques in investigation of the objects of cultural heritage

The Commission (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha, Gilberto Artioli, Petr Bezdicka) was a co-organizer of the 7th Meeting X-ray and other techniques in investigation of the objects of cultural heritage which was held in Krakow on May 17-19, 2018.

The programme and more information are at: https://biurokarier.chemia.uj.edu.pl/conf/x-ray18

XXIV IUCr Congress Hyderabad

The Commission played a very active role at the 2017 IUCr Congress in Hyderabad, with participation in several Microsymposia in both the Main and Special Activities parts of the programme. The importance and general interest of the subject were recognised in the Plenary Lecture, Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage, given by Giacomo Chiari, and a Keynote Lecture, Indian geometric patterns, compared to Persian and Moroccan styles, by Jean Marc Castera.

 Thanks to the initiative of the CrysAC Commission the programme of the 24th Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography in Hyderabad also contained four microsymposia:

• MS-047: Crystalline materials characterization with combined techniques, chaired by Koen Janssen & Alejandro Ayala, 24.08.2017
  
• 
• MS-071: Crystallographic patterns in art and cultural heritage, chaired by Louise De Las Penas and Rima Ajlouni, 25.08.2017
• MS-104: Synchrotron measurement in conservation and cultural heritage, session prepared by Eric Dooryhée, chaired by Alison Edwards and Gilberto Artioli, 27.08.2017
• MS-114: Crystallography and cultural heritage: From microsampling to noninvasive techniques, chaired by Manfred Schreiner and Serge Cohen
  
• 

The CrysAC Commission in co-operation with Professor Bernardo Cesare (UNIPD) was also involved in the preparation of an exhibition Beauty hidden in Rocks, which accompanied the Congress.

The IUCr also prepared some beautiful postcards, which were distributed during the Congress, representing in small format the exhibited macrophotographs.

Old and new members and consultants of the Commission met during the Congress to discuss future activities.

2nd CrysAC Workshop 2017

On May 31, the CrysAC Commission organized the second CrysAC workshop entitled Applied crystallography in the study of pigment degradation, which was held in Brno, Czech Republic. The programme of the workshop is available at: https://www.alma-lab.cz/eng/conference-programme--invited-speakers

Alma 2017

The Commission was also a co-organizer of the 6th Interdisciplinary ALMA Conference in Brno, Czech Republic, 1-3 May. More at:https://www.alma-lab.cz/eng/alma-conference-2017

Emil Makovicky gave a 45 minute lecture, Introduction to symmetry in art (with nice examples), during the 6th interdisciplinary ALMA Conference and 2nd CrysAC Workshop in Brno, Czech Republic, 31 May - 3 June 2017.

2016

XXIV IUCr Congress, Hyderabad

• The CrysAC Commission actively participated in the organization of the 24th Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography to be held in 2017 in Hyderabad.

Gilberto Artioli and Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha, as the members of the International Programme Committee (IPC) of this Congress, were involved in the organization of plenary and keynote lectures as well as a number of microsymposia connected with the investigations of the objects of cultural heritage. They took part in the meeting of the International Programme Committee in Hyderabad in spring 2016.

1st CrysAC Workshop 2016

• The commission started to organize CrysAC workshops. The first CrysAC workshop, Cultural heritage authentication and forensic science, was organised in Krakow (Poland) on 18 May 2016. The programme for the first workshop is available at: http://www.biurokarier.chemia.uj.edu.pl/conf/x-ray16/programme

X-ray and other techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage

The CrysAC Commission was also a co-organiser of the scientific international conference 6th Meeting on X-ray and other techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage which was held in Krakow (Poland), 19-21 May 2016 (A. Rafalska-Lasocha, G. Artioli and P. Bezdička). More at: http://www.biurokarier.chemia.uj.edu.pl/conf/x-ray16

ECM-30, Basel

Organization of Microsymposium MS 48 Crystallography in art and cultural heritage at ECM-30 Basel, Switzerland (chair: A. Rafalska-Lasocha, H. Stoeckli-Evans)

1. A. Zürn (Artist Researcher based in Biel, Switzerland), MAKING GOLD: Recent Developments and New Perspectives
2. K. Janssens (University of Antwerp, Department of Chemistry, Belgium), Micro-XRPD, XRPD tomography and MA-XRPD: three related methods to better understand structural alterations in cultural heritage materials
3. M. Emami (Department of conservation and archaeology, Art University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran), Crystallographic interpretation of mineral decompositions via Rietveld refi nement strategy for clustering ancient ceramics*
4. P. Bezdicka (Institute of Inorganic Chemistry of the CAS, Husinec-Rez, Czech Republic), Provenancing of clay-based pigments in paints using quantitative X-ray micro-diffraction analysis

* Owing to the absence of Prof. Emani, Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha gave a talk Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage.·

• The Commission is also a co-organizer of the 6th Interdisciplinary ALMA Conference to be held in Brno, Czech Republic in 2017 (Petr Bezdicka - chair of the organizing Committee, G. Artioli, A. Rafalska-Lasocha - members of the IPC). More at: https://www.alma-lab.cz/eng/alma-conference-2017

Publications

In 2016 the members and consultants of CryAC published the following results of their work in the area of cultural heritage:

Books:

• E. Makovicky, Symmetry: Through the Eyes of Old Masters, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., 2016

Papers:

• Jean-Marc Castera (2016), Persian Variations. Nexus Netw. J. 18, 223-274. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-015-0281-5
• Emil Makovicky (2017), On the Kond style of Islamic tiling: a study in practical Islamic geometry. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei, 28, 35-51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-016-0571-1
• Emil Makovicky and Nicolette Makovicky (2017), Nonperiodic Octagonal Patterns from a Jali Screen in the Mausoleum of Muhammad Ghaus in Gwalior and Their Periodic Relatives. Nexus Netw. J. 19, 101-120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-016-0316-6
• Istvan Hargittai (2016), James D. Watson 88 - the discovery of the double helix was an iconic event in structural chemistry. Struct. Chem. 27, 419–428 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11224-015-0688-3
• Istvan Hargittai (2016), Michael Polanyi - pupils and crossroads - on the 125th anniversary of his birth. Struct. Chem. 27, 1327–1344. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11224-016-0816-8
• Istvan Hargittai (2016), Ambiguity of Symmetry. Isr. J. Chem. 56, 907–924. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijch.201600063
• Istvan Hargittai (2017), Generalizing crystallography: a tribute to Alan A. Mackay at 90. Struct. Chem. 28, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11224-016-0766-1
• Artioli G. and Quartieri S. (2016), The contribution of geoscience to cultural heritage studies. Elements 12, 13-18. https://doi.org/0.2113/gselements.12.1.13
• Artioli G.: XRD - X-Ray Diffraction. In: Allan S. Gilbert (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Springer, Heidelberg-Berlin. Pp. 1019-1025, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-4020-4409-0

Special Journal Issues

• Alan L. Mackay and Generalized Crystallography. Edited by I. Hargittai, Struct. Chem. Special Issue, February 2017 (Vol. 28, No. 1)
• Earth Sciences for Cultural Heritage. Edited by G. Artioli G. and S. Quartieri S., Elements Vol. 12, No. 1, 2016.

Other projects

Gilberto Artioli, Powder diffraction in art and archaeology, International Tables for Crystallography, volume H (in preparation for publication).

Celerino Abad-Zapatero continued collaboration with Mr Painton Cowen to incorporate scientific content into the 'rosewindow' site (http://therosewindow.com/TheRoseWindow2/Rose-numbers.htm)

The CrysAC Website

A new CrysAC website was prepared. Now it is available at: https://www.iucr.org/resources/commissions/crysac

Photo credits: 24th IUCr Congress; ECM30 website; Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha

2015

The Commission continued to pursue the mission of spreading crystallographic knowledge related to artworks and ancient materials. During the first half of 2015 some IYCr2014 actions were continued through the effort of Commission members:

• Exhibition “IN THE UNUSUAL WORLD OF CRYSTALS”, organized by Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha, was shown in:
• January - in the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS, Warsaw
• February - in the Institute of Physics PAS, Warsaw
• March-July - at Warsaw University of Technology (shown in several places)

Conferences, sessions, lectures

1. Organization of Microsymposium Cultural and historical aspects of crystallography at  ECM-29, Rovinj, Croatia - chair: Petr Bezdička http://ecm29.ecanews.org/programme/microsymposia/#ms50

2. Symmetry, light, materials: the crystallography of cultural heritage - invited lecture during the Microsymposium Cultural and historical aspects of crystallography at  ECM-29, Rovinij, Croatia: Gilberto Artioli

3. Tilings and Tessellations at Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran - invited lecturers JeanMarc Castera, Emil Makovicky,
http://isfahan.sciencesconf.org/

4. The Commission introduced and started to organize the CrysAC workshops: one-day thematic workshops which are planned to be organised each year in different places. The first CrysAC workshop, Cultural heritage authentication and forensic science, will be organised in Krakow (Poland) on 18 May 2016 - Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha, Gilberto Artioli, Petr Bezdička

5. Organisation of the scientific international conference 6^th Meeting X-ray and other techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage which will be held in Krakow (Poland), 19-21 May 2016 - A. Rafalska-Lasocha, G. Artioli and P. Bezdička lectured). More at: http://www.biurokarier.chemia.uj.edu.pl/conf/x-ray16

6.Lectures on Crystallography and International Year of Crystallography delivered in Warsaw and Paris (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha)

Publications

1. Powder diffraction in art and archaeology, International Tables, volume H, , (will be released in 2016), - Gilberto Artioli

2. Persian Variations published by Springer in Nexus Network Journal Architecture and Mathematics", January 2016, http://www.springer.com/-/3/AVIb2MkW2brxj7RSmPyA - - Jean-Marc Castera

3. Science of Crystal Structures: Highlights in Crystallography, Springer 2015, - Istvan Hargittai and Balazs Hargittai, Eds.

4. Culture of Chemistry, Springer 2015, Balazs Hargittai and Istvan Hargittai, Eds.

5. The use of XRPD for the investigation of historic pigments and painting materials in works by Henryk Siemiradzki (2015) J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 30(3) s. 751-758 - Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha

Continuing project

Celerino Abad-Zapatero continued collaboration with Mr. Painton Cowen to incorporate scientific content into 'rosewindow' site (http://therosewindow.com/TheRoseWindow2/Rose-numbers.htm)

In 2015 members of the CrysAC Commission (Gilberto Artioli, Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha) were invited to join the International Programme Committee of the XXIV Congress and General Assembly of the IUCr, to be held in Hyderabad in 2017.

2014

The International Year of Crystallography 2014

The International Year of Crystallography 2014 was coordinated jointly by UNESCO and the International Union of Crystallography. It was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2012.

The year 2014 marked the centennial of the birth of X-ray crystallography, thanks to the work of W. H. and W. L. Bragg, and M. von Laue who was awarded the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.

In the International Year of Crystallography the following actions were completed through the effort of the Commission members:

A. Preparation of calendars for the International Year of Crystallography IYCr2014. The official calendar printed by the IUCr and distributed during the Opening Ceremony of IYCr2014 was an initiative of the Commission (CrysAC) (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha, Bernardo Cesare). This calendar as well as other calendars prepared by the Commission can be downloaded from http://crysac.visual-chemistry.net/downloads.html

B. Several public exhibitions were organized:

1. October 2013 – March 2014: Padova, Italy – Exhibition CRISTALLI (organized by Gilberto Artioli). More at http://147.162.183.151/cristalli/welcome.html , http://www.iycr2014.org/photos/italy/cristalli . The panels, the text and the iconographic part of the exhibition traveled through Italy as part of other events: http://www.iycr2014.it/eventi .

2. May 2014 – May 2015: Krakow, Poland – Exhibition In The Unusual World of Crystals (organized by Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University) was shown 14 times in various places in Poland. More at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/krysztaly_wystawa/ .

3. Juan Manuel Garciía-Ruiz & Fermín Otálora, from the Laboratorio de Estudios Cristalográficos (IACT, CSIC/UGr) developed the exhibition CRISTALES to increase the awareness of students and the general public about crystallography. All materials are available at the web site http://cristales2014.org

C. Special conferences, sessions, lectures:

1. During the Opening Ceremony of IYCr2014 (Paris, France, 20–21 January 2014), two members of CrysAC delivered lectures:

• Abdelmalek Thalal – Symmetry in Art and Architecture of the Western Islamic Golden Age;
• Emil Makovicky – Highlights of Eastern Islamic Ornamental Art As Seen Through Crystallographers' Eyes.

2. Organization of the international scientific conference: 5th Meeting X-ray and Other Techniques in Investigations of the Objects of Cultural Heritage. Celebrating the International Year of Crystallography and the 650th Anniversary of Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, 14–17 May 2014 (organized by A. Rafalska-Lasocha; G. Artioli and P. Bezdicka lectured). More at http://www.chemia.uj.edu.pl/nauka-i-badania/konferencje/X-ray .

3. Organization of the scientific session Role of Crystallography in Science, Art and Everyday Life in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, 14 May 2014 (A. Rafalska-Lasocha).

4. 5th ALMA interdisciplinary conference 2014: Interpretation of the Fine Art Analysis in Various Contexts, Dominican Monastery of St Giles, Prague, Czech Republic, 20–21 November 2014 (Petr Bezdicka, David and Janka Hradil, ALMA Laboratory).

5. 294th edition of the one-day Rozhovory seminar: Discussions on Problems of X-ray and Neutron Structure Analysis, 23 April 2014. See http://www.xray.cz/xray/csca/r294_en.htm (Petr Bezdicka, Radek Kuzel, Silvie Svarcova).

6. Colloquium Struktura 2014 of the Czech and Slovak Crystallographic Association and Regional Committee of the IUCr, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic, 9–12 June 2014 (Petr Bezdicka).

7. Presentation at Montreal Congress: Crystallography on Stage: Presenting the Concepts and History Dramatically (Celerino Abad-Zapatero).

8. Lecture Diagnostics in Art and Archaeology: Concepts and Case Studies, GABEC-GNM International School on Innovative Methodologies for Characterization, Diagnosis and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage, Catania-Siracusa, Italy, 1–4 July 2014 (Gilberto Artioli).

9. Lectures on Crystallography and the International Year of Crystallography delivered in Krakow, Madrid, Warsaw etc. (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha).

10. IYCr2014 OpenLab Ghana, University of Ghana, Accra, 9–12 June 2014 (G. Artioli, PANalytical).

11. IYCr2014 OpenLab Turkey, Bilkent University, Ankara, 19–22 January 2015 (G. Artioli, PANalytical), contained a full day on cultural heritage.

D. Crystallography contest:

1. The Commission, in cooperation with the Faculty of Chemistry of Jagiellonian University, organized a contest entitled The Role of Crystals in Human Life for secondary-school, high-school and University students in Poland (Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha). More about the contest and most of the contributions (in Polish) can be found at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/konkurs_krysztaly/ . A photo gallery is available at http://www2.chemia.uj.edu.pl/konkurs_krysztaly/?page_id=525 .

Participants in the contest were asked to prepare a poster, a presentation or a video clip. Prepared contributions were sent to the organizers by e-mail. The deadline was 28 February 2014. We received 99 contributions: (61 from secondary-school students, 33 from high-school students, and 5 from University students). The judging was carried out in two stages: online voting and after that experts' evaluation. In online voting, 8819 votes were received.

E. Continuing project. Celerino Abad-Zapatero continued collaboration with Mr Painton Cowen to incorporate scientific content into the Rose Window web site (http://therosewindow.com/TheRoseWindow2/Rose-numbers.htm ). 

Opening Ceremony, Paris, 20-21 January 2014 The International Year of Crystallography was launched at the Paris headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 20-21 January 2014. More detailed information about the opening ceremony is available at: http://www.iycr2014.org/opening-ceremony. More than 800 people attended the opening ceremony. Among the participants were government representatives, scientists and journalists. UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and IUCr President Gautam R. Desiraju presided over the opening session of this two-day event. Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage was widely represented in the programme: Philippe Walter - Director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archaeology (CNRS/UPMC) in Paris, this year also the chair in technological innovation at the Collège de France, delivered a lecture on Crystallography in the studies of art and historical artefacts. In Session 4 - Crystallography, symmetry and art two members of CrysAC Commission gave interesting lectures. Professor Abdelmalek Thalal from the Deparment of Physics at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (Morocco) told about Symmetry in art and architecture of the western Islamic Golden Age and professor Emil Makovicky from University of Copenhagen (Denmark) delivered a lecture entitled Highlights of eastern Islamic ornamental art as seen through crystallographers' eyes. One more lecture - Modern math in medieval Islamic architecture was given in this session by Peter J. Lu from Harvard University. The participants of the opening ceremony have also an opportunity to visit an exhibition on Journey into the Crystal prepared by French scientist Jean-Louis.Hodeau. Special calendars for the International Year of Crystallography were designed on the initiative of the IUCr Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage. > Calendar downloads Alicja Rafalska-Łasocha, Jagiellonian University in Krakow Photographic Impressions of the Opening in Paris
		IUCr President Gautam R. Desiraju presided over the opening session.
Exhibition: Journey into the Crystal, prepared by Jean-Louis.Hodeau.		UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.
Philippe Walter - Director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Structural Archaeology (CNRS/UPMC), Paris, on Crystallography in the studies of art and historical artefacts.		Abdelmalek Thalal from the Deparment of Physics at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech (Morocco) told about Symmetry in art and architecture of the western Islamic Golden Age.
Emil Makovicky from University of Copenhagen (Denmark) on Highlights of eastern Islamic ornamental art as seen through crystallographers' eyes.		Peter J. Lu from Harvard University on modern math in medieval Islamic architecture.

2013

The web site http://www.crystaledges.org was inaugurated in Fall 2013, and demonstrates connections between crystallography and, in particular, symmetry aspects and the arts as manifested in the Gothic Windows of the Medieval Cathedrals of Europe.

There was collaboration with Painton Cowen to extend and expand his web site (http://www.therosewindow.com), which contained over 500 Gothic Roses windows, to a larger number (over 1500 currently) and to include a rigorous description of the symmetry elements (and plane symmetry groups) contained in them.

E. Doorhyhée

2012

4th Meeting X-ray techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of crystal powder diffraction 17 May 2012 -19 May 2012 Collegium Maius Jagiellonian University Museum, Krakow, Poland > conference website > book of abstracts (pdf) > visual impressions
When science meets art... The international meeting X-ray techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of crystal X-ray diffraction was organised in Krakow (Poland) by the Faculty of Chemistry Jagiellonian University, the Jagiellonian University Museum, the Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Conservation and Restoration Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. The meeting was fourth conference which since 2008 is organized as an activity of the Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage Commission of the International Union of Crystallography.   Preservation and conservation of our cultural heritage is a significant, contemporary world-wide concern in which since a few years crystallographic community is also involved. Advanced scientific methods and techniques are essential for the identification of materials and processes which take place in historic objects. These methods can also help in a deeper understanding of the technology and craftsmanship of the old masters. Nowadays, material science deals with many problems from the area of cultural heritage. On 17-19 May 2012 the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University housed over 90 scientists and museum professionals discussing scientific achievements in art and archaeology.   In 2012 scientists all over the world are celebrating the 100th anniversary of Max Laue's discovery of the diffraction of X-rays on crystals. The meeting in Kraków was also especially devoted to the diffraction phenomenon. Today X-ray diffractometry is a commonly used technique for revealing information about the structure of various materials. Similarly to the previous conferences, the Kraków meeting in 2012 was focused on investigations of historic materials like pigments, metal alloys and other substances, and on corrosion and deterioration processes of ancient objects by X-ray techniques and related methods.   Since 2010 the meetings X-ray techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage have taken place at the heart of the City – Collegium Maius, the oldest university edifice in Poland. Its history goes back to the fifteen century. The appearance of Collegium Maius has not changed much since the second half of nineteenth century and the University Museum is still a home for ancient university collections, including the collection of old scientific instruments. The opening lecture delivered by the former president of the International Union of Crystallography Professor Henk Schenk (Amsterdam University, the Netherlands) entitled From Röntgen and Laue to modern crystallography dealt with the history and modern achievements reached in the field of crystallography thanks to Laue’s discovery. The lecture was a wonderful journey through a century of X-ray diffraction. For 50 years this area of investigation has been fruitfully examined by Professor Henk Schenk.   The next lecture given by Professor Gilberto Artioli (Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Universita di Padova, Italy) Science for the cultural heritage: the contribution of X-ray and neutron diffraction introduced the participants into the wide range of applications of diffraction methods in different areas of cultural heritage studies. The book of Professor Artioli Scientific Methods and Cultural Heritage: An introduction to the application of materials science to archaeometry and conservation science, recently published by Oxford University Press, aroused great interest among the participants.   During the conference sessions scientists, art historians and conserva¬tors got to know the latest results obtained in the best conservation workshops and scientific laboratories. In the lectures given by Ina Reiche (Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France), Thomas Wróblewski (Hamburger Synchrotronstrahlungslabor (HASYLAB) at Deutsches elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg, Germany) Matthias Alfeld (Universiteit Antwerpen, Department of Chemistry, Center for Micro- and Trace Analysis, Belgium), Eberhard H. Lehmann (Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen PSI, Switzerland), Manfred Schreiner (Institute of Science and Technology in Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria), David Strivay (Institut de Physique Nucléaire, Atomique et de Spectroscopie & Centre Européen d’Archéométrie, University of Liege, Belgium) and Anabelle Križnar (University of Seville, Centro Nacional de Aceleradores, Spain) the results of application of modern X-ray techniques were fully described and discussed.   The specialists from the Polish museums and restoration departments also shared their knowledge and experiences with the conference participants. The second session began with the lecture of Janusz Czop, the Chief Conservator of the National Museum in Kraków, who told about the application of X-rays techniques in the conservation studios of Krakow’s museums. His talk was followed by the lectures delivered by the conservators from the National Museum in Kraków, Collegium Maius Jagiellonian University Museum and scientists and conservators from Conservation and Restoration Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, the Center for Diagnosis Prevention and Telemedicine of the John Paul II Hospital in Kraków, the Faculty of Fine Arts, the Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń, the Jerzy Haber Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Henryk Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Faculty of Chemistry of the Jagiellonian University.   The first conference day ended with a poster session and visit to the Collegium Maius collections. The treasures of the Jagiellonian University were admired by scientists, curators and conservators – the conference participants from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and all over Poland. All participants had the chance to take part in the Night of Museums and could experience Kraków by night.   Our guests spent the final day at the Wawel Castle Museum, which among other treasures houses temporarily the famous painting Lady with the ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. The whole program of the conference is available at web page: http://heritagescience.pl/workshop2012/
Alicja Rafalska-Lasocha
Impressions of the meeting in Krakow

2011

2010

26th European Crystallography Meeting

Jean-Marc Castera and his interactive poster on islamic tilings at the Darmstadt meeting.

ECM-26 Darmstadt , August 26 to September 2, 2010

MS 47: Crystallography in art and archaeology
Chairs: Eric Doryhee (Brookhaven, NY/US), Abdelmalek Thalal (Marrakech/MA)

MS47-T01
The symmetries of things
Chaim Goodman-Strauss (Fayetteville, AR/US)

MS47-T02
Arabesques for Abu Dhabi - an octagonal system
Jean-Marc Castera (Paris/FR)

MS47-T03
Quasiperiodic symmetry in a baroque Church in the Czech Republic
Jan Fábry (Prague/CZ)

MS47-T04
Classification of the Moroccan ornamental patterns constructed by the "Hasba" method
Youssef Aboufadil (Marrakech/MA)

MS47-T05
"Bossenstein" - unique ornamentation of "Weser-Renaissance"
Annegret Haake (Kronberg/DE)

Chiesa di S. Carlo, Erice
Built between 1612-1617, and partially reconstructed in the middle of the 18th century.

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL HUBERT CURIEN STRUCTURAL AND MOLECULAR ARCHAEOLOGY
NON-INVASIVE ANALYSIS OF PAINTING MATERIALS

ERICE - SICILY: 14-21 JUNE 2010

Directors of the course:

• Philippe WALTER, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France
  
• David STRIVAY, Centre Européen d’Archéométrie, University of Liège
  

Director of the School:

• Georges TSOUCARIS, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France

> link to conference website
> program (pdf)
> book of abstracts (pdf)

Alicja Rafalska and Anke Zürn gave a double presentation, presenting CrysAC and its topics.

Lecturers

• C. AMATORE, Ecole Normale Supérieure, FR
• P. BAGLIONI, University of Florence, IT
• B. BRUNETTI, University Perugia, IT
• N. BROERS, ESA St-Luc, BE
• F. CASADIO, Art Institute of Chicago, US
• M. COTTE, ESRF, FR
• J. DIK, Technical University of Delft, NE
• M. EVENO, C2RMF, FR
• C. FOTAKIS, University of Crete, GR
• R. GARCIA MORENO, University of Liège, BE
• M. HARTWIG, Georgia State University, US
• K. JANSSENS, University of Antwerp, BE
• M. MENU, C2RMF, FR
• C. MILIANI, University Perugia, IT
• A. RAFALSKA-LASOCHA, Jagiellonian University, PL
• A. ROUVERET, University of Paris X, FR
• J. SANYOVA, KIK-IRPA, BE
• D. STRIVAY, University of Liège, BE
• J. SUSINI, ESRF, FR
• P. VANDENABEELE, University of Gent, BE
• L. VINCZE, University of Gent, BE
• P. WALTER, C2RMF, FR
• A. ZURN, ETH Zurich, CH

X-ray techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage.
Around Rembrandt and his workshop

Scientific Achievements in Art

3rd meeting, Krakow, Poland, 13-16 May 2010
Collegium Maius of Jagiellonian University

http://www.heritagescience.pl/workshop
> book of abstracts (pdf)

see detailed report here

Organizers

Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University,
Jagiellonian University Museum,
Institute of Catalysis and Surface Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences.

In co-operation with International Union of Crystallography, Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage.

International Scientific Committee

Professor Henk Schenk,
Amsterdam University, the Netherlands,
Dr Eric Dooryhee,
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France,
Dr Thomas Wroblewski,
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Germany.

Local Committee

Prof. Grażyna Stochel
Prof. Stanisław Waltoś
Prof. Małgorzata Witko
Prof. Wieslaw Lasocha
Prof. Roman Kozłowski
Alicja Rafalska-Łasocha
Anna Jasińska
Jolanta Pollesch

2008

2007

ECM 24 in Marrakech

THE ENCHANTING CRYSTALLOGRAPHY OF MOROCCAN ORNAMENTS

ECM-24 Satellite Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography
The CrysAC commision was still not in existence, but most of the members participated the wonderful satellite workshop organized by the MathCryst Commission.

Didactic material

Didactic material from the lectures is available for download (25.1 Mb) from the MathCryst website.

Images from a trip to the Kasbah of Telouet