Most cultural heritage objects concern monuments and buildings, are mainly built by stone.

The ecological requirements of endolithic organisms as well as their impact on stone deterioration are still not known in detail.

One cause of stone deterioration is linked to the colonization of stone by endolithic organisms that penetrate some millimeters or even centimeters into the rock.

Introduction

Objectives

To Improve the knowledge on their ecological limits and the potentiality of growths.

To study the endolithic penetration on stone monuments in order to detect the interaction with the substrate.

To research of the potential dangerousness for the stone conservation of the most common detected species.

To investigate the chemical effects induced by endolithic colonization on substrate.

To define an experimental protocol in order to detect the presence of endolithic in the rock, their spread and interaction with the substrate.

To perform the experimental protocol on several sample.

Selection from the existing literature on endolithic microorganisms, paper, books, abstracts and thesis concerning the techniques and methodologies for the study of alterations of substrate and mechanisms of biodeterioration.

First step: bibliographic research

Second step: Definition experimental protocol

Evaluation of the most appropriate analytical techniques to define an experimental protocol to be applied on case studies.

Third step: Case studies

Investigation of 11 limestone samples of the outside walls of the Church of the Virgin in Martvili (Georgia), characterized by pitting phenomena.

The last two steps was conducted at the scientific laboratory of “Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Veneziano”

Experimental protocol

Stereomicroscope observation

Isolation and microscopic observation of the biological material in transmitted light microscope

Preparation and observation of polished sections with optical microscope in visible reflected light

Experimental protocol

Observation of polished sections after staining with Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS)

Observation of polished sections after staining with Blue methylene

SEM observation of polished sections after acid attack

Case study, MartviliThe limestone of the outside walls of the Church of the Virgin in Martvili (Georgia) is affected by diffuse and various pitting phenomena

Maps of some interesting chemical elements using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).

SE ImageMap Si

The concentration of silicon in the areas where the biological material is presen,t indicates a chemical effects induced by endolithic colonization.It is an aspect that will be investigated in detail.

Scanned image with SEM  in false color  

Chemical effects induced by endolithic

Precence and interaction of endolithic organisms with substrata

• “An interactive database for an ecological analysis of stone biopitting”Lombardozzi V., Castrignanò T., D’Antonio M., Casanova Municchia A., Caneva G.Manuscript submitted for publication in: Journal of International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation.

• “Pitting phenomena due to endolithic organisms on carbonatic stone ( Martvili, Georgia)”Caneva G., Lombardozzi V., Ceschin S., Casanova A., Salvadori O., In review for english.

Articles:

Thanks for attention