Mutual interest develops in heritage restoration

These schools include the Department of Restoration and Conservation at Tuscia University. One of its founders is Salvatore Lorusso, a professor who also founded and directed the Laboratory for Cultural Heritage at Bologna University.

Lorusso, a professor emeritus and former visiting professor at Zhejiang University's Cultural Heritage Institute in China, was contacted by Chinese archaeologists when the Qingzhou Buddhist sculptures were discovered at the Longxing Temple in 1996.

The statues, he said, dated back to a period between AD 500-1100. "The cleaning presented huge problems, because previous restorations had been done using incorrect products and substances," Lorusso told Xinhua.

"So we moved onto innovative methods using biological substances to remove the dirt and the patina that encrusted the surface of those fantastic statues."

Describing himself as "fundamentally a diagnostician and a chemist," Lorusso went on to explain that restoration and conservation is an interdisciplinary field.

"Why interdisciplinary? Because I always need others and equally, others need me," said Lorusso, who founded the journal Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage. He has also authored more than 420 national and international publications.

"The human sciences must proceed hand in hand with the experimental sciences. The scientist must work with the art historian and the archaeologist."

CNR researcher Porfyriou said that "our Chinese colleagues (in restoration and conservation) have a great desire to spread and raise awareness, both among local decision-makers and among the public."

A key part of this awareness is a project that twins historic sites of the two countries through UNESCO. This would show that "funding and well-being and urban quality do not come only from tourism, but also from the championing of historic urban settings and buildings," Porfyriou said.