Whether it is books, autographs, maps, globes, printed graphics, drawings, watercolours or photographs: we, the conservators at the Institute for Conservation, work on a daily basis to preserve the holdings of the Austrian National Library for the long term.
Many eras are present at the Institute for Conservation. From medieval manuscripts to baroque copper engravings and manuscripts from contemporary authors: we strive to stabilise the current state of our objects over the long term. The guiding principle here: to present projects of the past in their original state as far as possible and keep these accessible for the general public.
Restoration is more than just mere stabilisation, and concerns books, images or photographs that can no longer be read easily. Here, we try, with procedures such as additions and retouching, to return the object to its original state as far as possible and to restore the aesthetic readability of the work.
At the Institute for Conservation, we perform a range of preventative measures to avoid damage and avert the need for conservation in the first place. These measures include, for instance, suitable environmental conditions in the depots, moving into ageing-resistant archive materials, as well as the proper positioning and regular cleaning of the objects.
