Heritage Materials Matter: Recent Perspectives in Diagnostics and Conservation

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to introduce our Special Issue dedicated to materials in cultural heritage from the perspective of conservation science. The witnesses of the past are all around us and are eager to teach us more about our history; thus, we should focus on understand their voices. The cultural heritage domain is a common playground for experts in antiquity and art history and representatives from different science and technology fields. Its natural transdisciplinarity is obvious and important for deeply understanding our past, vast artistic expressions, and the material and immaterial fingerprints left behind us.

This Special Issue invites research studies on cultural heritage materials that contribute to a better understanding of materials used for manufacturing objects of  cultural and/or artistic importance and their interaction with the environment (during their “active life”, when they are abandoned, and after their rediscovery). In other words, all research studies submitted should aim at improving knowledge regarding heritage materials and their behaviors. Conservation and restoration science is an open and vibrant discipline that we aim to promote intensively as part of the current EMDM project CORES, in which a joint master's degree is being developed.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: archaeometry, datation, materials science applied to cultural heritage, convervation science, degradation of materials related to heritage,  stabilization and preservation techniques, and the development and application of innovative diagnostic methodologies and advanced convervation techniques. Case studies from the above mentioned fields are also encouraged.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Paolo Piccardo
Dr. Roberto Spotorno
Dr. Pietro Marescotti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• conservation science
• archaometry
• materials science
• degradation of materials
• techniques of restoration
• musealization
• diagnostics applied to CH