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).