Conservation and Restauration – Wall Painting

In the first semesters, the basic subjects of painting and plastering materials, historical technology, the principles, methods and materials of conservation and restoration are taught alongside the natural sciences and humanities to provide the theoretical foundation for object practice.

The first introductory practical courses are increasingly dedicated to the reproduction of historical plaster and painting technology as well as mosaics and familiarisation with common conservation materials and their use, while project work on architectural surfaces and their polychromy begins in the third semester.

Against the individual, architectural-historical background of the respective objects, the research objectives are discussed and defined together with the students of the degree programme and developed on one project day per week within a semester. The training of object-sensitive and substance-preserving working methods is balanced with the precise evaluation and professional documentation of the examination results according to the latest standards. Initial scientific examinations of the plaster matrix and the colour layers round off this practical part.

After the practical semester, both theory and, to a greater extent, practical work on objects in small groups is continued for two semesters in the advanced programme. The focus here is on self-contained conservation and restoration work, which attempts to cover as many of the main types of damage to the respective object as possible and how to solve the problem. The object research and basic investigations in advance as well as the accompanying analytical investigations, which are supervised by the natural science laboratory of the Restoration degree programme, form the first focus.

This practical part of the programme includes the exhaustive inventory and damage assessment as well as the theoretical analysis in the creation of conservation and restoration concepts.

The second part of the project work is the implementation of the supervised object practice, including its specialist documentation, in two days per week and semester.

Students are also integrated into ongoing research projects in which they develop and test completed subject areas and implement them in the form of specimens that are representative of the original.

The practical programme of the degree course is rounded off by a voluntary offer in the lecture-free period with international partners in monument conservation in the form of fortnightly summer courses on historical plaster technology based on lime and clay, as well as on topics relating to plaster conservation.