Analytical chemistry for cultural heritage: a key discipline in conservation research

Conservation research can be defined as the work of scientists and others who pursue their investigations into the study and the conservation of cultural heritage. Conservation research as such is a form of applied research, which is focused on the conservation of material aspects of cultural heritage. It includes scientific studies where (art) historical, conservational and/or chemical, biological and physical methods are used. Therefore, conservation research is basically interdisciplinary in its approach. Within this context, natural scientists apply both examinations of objects (works of art and science) using scientific methods as well as conservation science, which is a branch of natural science that is concerned with the physical/ material aspects of works of art and science, their deterioration and conservation. Scientific and technological disciplines, such as conservation science, rely on measurements of physical and chemical properties. Such measurements are central to, for example, analytical chemistry, that branch of chemistry concerned with determining the qualitative and quantitative identity of a substance.