Ethical code

"The conservator of artworks is responsible for the investigation, the conservation process, and the restoring of the cultural inheritance of the object, whilst keeping safe its aesthetic and historical integrity. The conservator's discipline involves treatment, preventive care and research directed towards the long-term safekeeping of cultural and natural heritage." (Extract from the ethical code of the "European Confederation of Conservators-Restorers Organisations")

Conservation and restoration can be performed in two ways:

conservation This procedure gives priority primarily to extending the natural life of the object, eliminating decay and its causes. Conservation is called preventive when stabilization of the object can be reached by improving its environmental conditions. This is done by intervening directly on the object.

restoration Treatment directly on the damaged object, to improve its legibility, savegarding as much as possible its aesthetic, historical and material integrity.

Restoration must meet three essential conditions:

STABILITY: the used materials must be of lasting quality.

REVERSEBILITY: the intervention must be reversible to enable the object, if necessary, to be restored in its earlier state.

LEGEBILITY: the result of the intervention must be perfectly perceptible for trained eyes.