Sheikh Abd el-Gurna (Egypt) – Manuscript Conservation Mission
Dates of work: 19 May – 21 June 2013
Team:
Director: Anna Thommeé, senior conservator of art works (Polish Ateliers for Conservation of Cultural Property)
Coptic Museum liason: Sherin Lotwi Aziz
Book restorer: Barbara Adamczyk (freelance)
(Joint description of seasons 2012 and 2013)
The manuscripts were transferred in October 2012 from the National Museum in Alexandria Restoration Lab, where they had been kept until then, to the Coptic Museum in Cairo, where the work was to be continued in the Restoration Labs of the Museum. Extended formalities and the need to carry out a microbiological examination of samples taken from the manuscripts by an SCA lab drastically shortened the time spent on actual conservation. The manuscripts were placed in two wooden chests with silica gel protection, in state-of-the-art acid-free carton boxes lined with canvas, with disinfectant-saturated liners.
[Text: Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 24/1]