Search Results (57)

Hydrogels, characterized by their high water content, tunable mechanical properties, and excellent biocompatibility, have emerged as a promising material platform for the preservation of cultural heritage. Their unique physicochemical features enable non-invasive and adaptable solutions for environmental regulation, structural stabilization, and antifungal protection. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in hydrogel-based strategies specifically developed for the conservation of cultural relics, with a particular focus on antifungal performance—an essential factor in preventing biodeterioration. Current hydrogel systems, composed of natural or synthetic polymer networks integrated with antifungal agents, demonstrate the ability to suppress fungal growth, regulate humidity, alleviate mechanical stress, and ensure minimal damage to artifacts during application. This review also highlights future research directions, such as the application prospects of novel materials, including stimuli-responsive hydrogels and self-dissolving hydrogels. As an early exploration of the use of hydrogels in antifungal protection and broader cultural heritage conservation, this work is expected to promote the wider application of this emerging technology, contributing to the effective preservation and long-term transmission of cultural heritage worldwide. Full article

As the cradle of Jiangnan culture, Suzhou is home to a dense concentration of historical architectural heritage that is currently facing existential threats from rapid urbanization. This study aims to develop a spatial heritage corridor network for conservation and sustainable utilization. Using kernel density estimation, this study identifies 15 kernel density groups, along with the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), to pinpoint clusters of historical architectural heritage and assess the involved resistance factors. Current Effective Conductance (CEC) theory is further applied to model spatial flow relationships among heritage nodes, leading to the delineation of 27 heritage corridors and revealing a spatial structure characterized by one primary core, one secondary core, and multiple peripheral zones. Based on 15 source points, six cultural relics-themed routes are proposed—three land-based and three waterfront routes—connecting historical sites, towns, and ecological areas. The study further recommends a resource management strategy centered on departmental collaboration, digital integration, and community co-governance. By integrating historical architectural types, settlement forms, and ecological patterns, the research builds a multi-scale narrative and experience system that addresses fragmentation while improving coordination and sustainability. This framework delivers practical advice on heritage conservation and cultural tourism development in Suzhou and the broader Jiangnan region. Full article

Epoxy resins have been extensively employed in cultural heritage conservation as both adhesive and reinforcement materials owing to their exceptional bonding strength, relatively low toxicity, and cost-effectiveness. This review initially outlines the fundamental material characteristics of epoxy resins and subsequently examines their contemporary applications in artifact restoration. Subsequently, it synthesizes the research advancements documented over the past two decades, with a focus on critical challenges associated with their application in cultural heritage preservation, including susceptibility to aging, inherent brittleness, and prolonged curing time. The corresponding modification strategies are systematically examined, including strategies for aging resistance enhancement, toughness improvement, and rapid-curing techniques. Finally, potential future directions for epoxy resin applications in conservation are critically evaluated. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of epoxy resins’ performance and modification methodologies, thereby offering valuable insights to guide future research on its application in cultural heritage conservation. Full article

As a core structure within the Qing Changling Mausoleum, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, Long’en Hall preserves a relatively complete set of Qing dynasty imperial lacquered furniture. These furnishings provide critical physical evidence for studying Qing dynasty sacrificial rituals and the craftsmanship of court lacquerware. However, limited research has been conducted on the surface finishing techniques of such furnishings, posing challenges to their conservation and accurate restoration. This study focuses on representative furnishings from Long’en Hall—including an offering table, an incense pavilion, a throne, and a poke lamp—and employed a multi-method analytical approach comprising fluorescence microscopy (FM), scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The analysis was conducted on the following two levels: the lacquer layer structure and material composition. The results show that the furnishings in the Long’en Hall adopt the typical structure of “lacquer ash layer–color lacquer layer”, and the color lacquer layer is composed of raw lacquer, tung oil, animal glue, and other natural organic ingredients as film-forming materials, supplemented with inorganic mineral pigments such as red lead (Pb₃O₄) and Au metal, which constitutes a stable organic–inorganic composite structure with the lacquer ash layer. The multi-analysis results show a good complementary and cross-corroboration relationship, providing the necessary technical support and a theoretical reference for Qing dynasty palace lacquer wood furniture as cultural relics worthy of scientific protection and imitation. Full article

Internationally, there is a modern understanding of cultural heritage, including maritime/underwater cultural heritage (MUCH)—not merely as a passive relic of the past, but as a transformative driver for sustainable growth and innovation. The paper discusses the position of maritime cultural heritage (MUCH) in relation to the smart specialization strategies (S3) and its evolving role as a driver of sustainable growth, particularly within the context of the blue economy and smart specialization strategies (S3, S4) in Europe. It then focuses on the Greek context, where UCH-driven activities, particularly soft multi-use (MU) activities that combine UCH, diving tourism, and nature conservation, are gaining momentum, especially within marine protected areas (MPAs). Despite the growing interest, there is a lack of data, regulations, and a clear strategy for such activities, although the “National (Hellenic) Spatial Strategy for the Marine Space” (issued in 2025) suggests promoting low-impact diving tourism incorporating UCH. The research paper examines the benefits and barriers to implementing UCH-driven MUs, recommending the use of maritime spatial planning (MSP) to address relevant challenges. It suggests that integrating UCH with nature conservation and diving tourism in soft MUs could support a sustainable blue economy, through balancing cultural, ecological, social, and economic goals and fostering innovation through S3/S4 on a regional level. Full article

This research explores the underappreciated traditional cold-water baths of Western Anatolia, once integral to the region’s agrarian culture. Due to waves of change, which had markedly begun by the pandemic in 2019 and the aftermath of the 2020 Samos earthquake, there has been a growing interest in living in peri-urban areas, resulting in the invasion of agricultural grounds by new construction, mainly including detached houses with gardens. Such a harsh growth not only threatens the fertile lands, but also the irreplaceable cultural heritage they embrace. In this regional frame, this study focuses on three surviving baths within the Karaburun Peninsula, casting light on their current precarious state as relics of a diminishing rural way of life and local heritage. The traditional cold-water baths, constructed amidst agricultural fields for seasonal use in select villages throughout İzmir, stand as unique exemplars of rural architecture. Characterised by their singular domed chambers and their reliance on water from adjacent wells, these structures today face abandonment and disrepair. Through a multi-disciplinary lens blending ethnography, oral history, and spatial analysis, this paper portrays these unassuming yet culturally impactful baths, elucidating their intrinsic value within the heritage domain. The inquiry contributes significantly to the heritage conservation discussion, highlighting the broad spectrum of values beyond mere historical interest. By articulating the symbiotic relationship between heritage and its community, this research underscores the pressing need to weave these baths into the fabric of current social structures, safeguarding their place within the collective memory. Full article

This study introduces a novel contrastive learning-based X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis framework, an SE(3)-equivariant graph neural network (E3NN) based Atomic Cluster Expansion Neural Network (EACNN), which reduces the strong dependency on databases and initial models in traditional methods. By integrating E3NN with atomic cluster expansion (ACE) techniques, a dual-tower contrastive learning model has been developed, mapping crystal structures and XRD patterns to a continuous embedding space. The EACNN model retains hierarchical features of crystal systems through symmetry-sensitive encoding mechanisms and utilizes relationship mining via contrastive learning to replace rigid classification boundaries. This approach reveals gradual symmetry-breaking patterns between monoclinic and orthorhombic crystal systems in the latent space, effectively addressing the recognition challenges associated with low-symmetry systems and small sample space groups. Our investigation further explores the potential for model transfer to experimental data and multimodal extensions, laying the theoretical foundation for establishing a universal structure–property mapping relationship. Full article

Ting, Tai, Lou, and Ge are types of ancient buildings that represent traditional Chinese architecture and culture. They are primarily constructed using mortise and tenon joints, complemented by brick and stone foundations, showcasing traditional architectural craftsmanship. However, research aimed at conserving, inheriting, and rejuvenating these buildings is limited, despite their status as Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units of China. Therefore, the aim of this study was to reveal the spatial distribution of Ting, Tai, Lou, and Ge buildings across China, as well as the factors driving differences in their spatial distribution. Tourist experiences and building popularity were also explored. The spatial analysis method (e.g., Standard deviation ellipse and Geographic detector), Word cloud generation, and sentiment analysis, which uses Natural Language Processing techniques to identify subjective emotions in text, were applied to investigated the research issues. The key findings of this study are as follows. The ratio of Ting, Tai, Lou, and Ge buildings in Southeast China to that in Northwest China divided by the “Heihe–Tengchong” Line, an important demographic boundary in China with the ratio of permanent residents in the two areas remaining stable at 94:6, was 94.6:5.4. Geographic detector analysis revealed that six of the seven natural and socioeconomic factors (topography, waterways, roads, railways, population, and carbon dioxide emissions) had a significant influence on the spatial heterogeneity of these cultural heritage buildings in China, with socioeconomic factors, particularly population, having a greater influence on building spatial distributions. All seven factors (including the normalized difference vegetation index, an indicator used to assess vegetation health and coverage) were significant in Southeast China, whereas all factors were non-significant in Northwest China, which may be explained by the small number of buildings in the latter region. The average rating scores and heat scores for Ting, Tai, Lou, and Ge buildings were 4.35 (out of 5) and 3 (out of 10), respectively, reflecting an imbalance between service quality and popularity. According to the percentages of positive and negative reviews, Lou buildings have much better tourism services than other buildings, indicating a need to improve services to attract more tourists to Ting, Tai, and Ge buildings. Four main types of words were used with high frequency in the tourism reviews collected form Ctrip, a popular online travel platform in China: (1) historical stories; (2) tourism; (3) culture; and (4) cities/provinces. Ting and Tai buildings showed similar word clouds, as did Lou and Ge buildings, with only the former including historical stories. Conversely, landmark was a high-frequency word only in the reviews of Lou and Ge buildings. Specific suggestions were proposed based on the above findings to promote tourism and revive ancient Chinese architecture. Full article

In the dialogue between “wind” and “earth”, terroir-built heritage and the natural environment together construct the cultural landscape of agrarian civilization. Understanding historical heritage within the broader landscape system and recognizing the cultural connotations and collective spatial memory embedded in this dialogue are crucial for identifying the value of heritage, excavating urban history, and promoting high-quality development. This article examines the Water-distributing Shrine landscape structure (WSLS)—a Japanese model comprising four spatial elements: focus, boundary, direction, and domain—and explores its relevance for interpreting the spatial logic of Chinese historical cities. The study adopts a visual-analytical method combining literature review, historical document analysis, field observation, and diagrammatic interpretation. Through a case study of Taiyuan, a city shaped by the Fen River and surrounding mountain systems, this study analyzes the historical characteristics of WSLS elements, reconstructs Taiyuan’s cultural landscape structure, and proposes integrated heritage conservation strategies. Rather than treating cultural relics as isolated objects, the approach emphasizes structural relationships between nature and culture, revealing how spatial configuration encodes collective values. This study aims to preserve the spatial logic and symbolic landscape system of agrarian civilizations and offers a reference for other Chinese cities seeking to rediscover and protect their historical landscape heritage. Full article

Microbes colonizing cultural artifacts are a ubiquitous phenomenon which may occur during burial, post-excavation, and storage periods, thereby seriously affecting sustainable heritage conservation. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was applied to analyze the microbial community structure in ancient mural paintings and the surrounding air, as well as to identify the most characteristic taxa causing black spot contamination. The results showed that members of the genera Gliomastix and Ochroconis were highly abundant in black-spots-contaminated areas and rarely detected in the air and uncontaminated mural paintings. Air samples of the two tombs showed no significant difference in Chao1 and Shannon indices, whereas statistically significant differences were observed compared to those samples collected from black spots. The taxonomic diversity of the microbial community in the soil-covered mural paintings and air exhibited similar structures at the genus level. Moreover, when compared to other areas of the two tombs, the samples from black spots differed not only in microbial community composition but also in microbial assembly processes and the co-occurrence patterns, such as much less network complexity in the black spots area. Functional predictions uncover the presence of microbial functional profiles involved in nitrogen cycling, organic matter degradation, and animal and human pathogens, representing a potential threat to cultural relics and public health. These results advance our understanding of the impacts of archeological excavations on the microbial community variation in tomb mural paintings. Full article

The Yungang Grottoes are undergoing degradation by weather and environmental erosion. Here, we propose a natural ventilation strategy to optimize the environments in Cave 9 and Cave 10 of the Yungang Grottoes. The novelty of this work is to use an effective computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation and a hybrid of the beetle antennae search and particle swarm optimization algorithms (BAS–PSO) to determine which natural ventilation scenario yields the maximum total heat transfer rate (Q_max). A CFD hygrothermal model is first developed and shows high precision in predicting temperature and humidity conditions based on real-time measured data. The natural ventilation efficiency is enhanced by different configurations of doors and windows with four ventilation rates. Combined with eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) fitting, the hybrid BAS–PSO algorithm yields the largest Q_max (5746.74 W), which is further confirmed by CFD simulations with the outcome of a comparable Q_max (5730.67 W). It indicates that the hybrid algorithm exhibits a good performance in the identification of optimal configurations. The effectiveness of the proposed natural ventilation strategy is verified by on-site measured data. Our findings provide an effective natural ventilation strategy that is beneficial to the energy-efficient preservation of the Yungang Grottoes. Full article

Paper-based cultural relics experience aging and deterioration during their long-term preservation, which poses a serious threat to their lifetime. The development of conservation materials with high compatibility and low intervention has been expected to extend the lifetime of paper artifacts. As a new type of biological macromolecule, nanocellulose has been extensively utilized in paper conservation, attributed to its excellent paper compatibility, high optical transparency, outstanding mechanical strength, and large specific surface area with abundant hydroxyl groups. This review systematically summarizes the latest development of three kinds of nanocellulose (cellulose nanofibril, cellulose nanocrystal, and bacterial nanocellulose) and their composites used for the multifunctional conservation of paper relics. Owing to the strong hydrogen bond interactions between hydroxyls of nanocellulose and paper fibers, nanocellulose can effectively consolidate paper without adding adhesives. The composite of nanocellulose with other functional materials greatly expands its application scope, and the superior performance has been emphasized in paper deacidification, consolidation, antimicrobial effect, antioxidation, UV resistance, self-cleaning, promotion of printing property, reduction in air permeability, and flame retardancy. The application characteristics and future prospects of nanocellulose composites are highlighted in the conservation of paper-based cultural relics. Full article

The wooden lacquerware unearthed from the Zhou Dynasty (1046–771 BCE) Zeng Cemetery of Guojiamiao in Hubei Province, China, holds significant cultural value. Although the artifacts retain intact lacquer films, the wooden bodies exhibit high moisture content and severe decay, necessitating immediate dehydration and reinforcement. The characterization of the samples was carried out using microscopy, SEM-EDS (Scanning Electron Microscopy—Energy Dispersive Spectrometry), XRD (X-Ray Diffraction), Raman spectroscopy, and THM-Py-GC/MS (Thermally Assisted Hydrolysis–Methylation Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry) to analyze their physical and chemical properties, while moisture content was assessed through the loss-on-drying method. Findings reveal that the wooden structures of the dou and bow are made from Catalpa wood and Sawtooth oak, respectively, with a moisture content reaching 274%. The lacquer film comprises three layers: a mortar layer, a lacquer layer, and a cinnabar-containing red pigment layer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the material properties of lacquered wood artifacts, focusing on the application of advanced analytical techniques to assess their condition and composition, offering a foundation for effective conservation strategies for these cultural relics. Full article

Handmade papers, as carriers of paper-based cultural relics, have played a crucial role in the development of human culture, knowledge, and civilization. Understanding the intricate relationship between the structural properties and degradation mechanisms of handmade papers is essential for the conservation of historical documents. In this work, an artificial dry-heat-accelerated aging method was used to investigate the interplay among the mechanical properties of paper, the degree of polymerization (DP) of cellulose, the chemical composition, the hydrogen bond strength, the crystallinity, and the degree of hornification for paper fibers. The results demonstrated for the first time that the mechanical properties of handmade bamboo paper exhibited an initial plateau region, a rapid decline region, and sometimes a second plateau region as it undergoes a dry-heat aging process. The changes in cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin content were tracked throughout these three stages. The lignin content was relatively stable, while the cellulose and hemicellulose content decreased, which was consistent with the observed decline in mechanical properties. When the DP of cellulose decreased to the range of 600–400, there was a critical point in the mechanical properties of the paper, marking a transition from the initial stable region to a rapid decline region. The fiber embrittlement caused by cellulose chain breakage resulting from the decrease in DP was counteracted by the enhancement of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and the hornification process. A second stable region appeared when the DP was less than 400, marking a transition from a balanced or slightly decreasing trend in the initial plateau region to a sharp decline. This study also discussed for the first time that the formation of the second plateau region may be due to the presence of hemicellulose and lignin, which hinder the further aggregation of cellulose and maintain the structural stability of the fiber cell. The findings of this study can provide guidance for improving ancient book preservation strategies. On the one hand, understanding how these components affect the durability of paper can help us better predict and slow down the aging of ancient books. On the other hand, specific chemical treatment methods can be designed to stabilize these components and reduce their degradation rate under adverse environmental conditions. Full article

Traditional villages (TVs) are clusters for the conservation of farming civilization heritage with multiple values. Studying their spatial distribution and driving mechanisms is conducive to formulating conservation and development strategies. In this study, 777 TVs in Yunnan Province were examined. Spatial analysis methods such as the nearest neighbor index (NNI), kernel density estimation (KDE), and Moran’s I were used to investigate their spatial distribution patterns. Twelve driving factors were selected from natural, spatial, social, and cultural aspects. The driving mechanisms affecting the distribution of TVs were explored by employing the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model and Geodetector combined with mathematical and statistical methods to systematically study the spatial autocorrelation and heterogeneity of TVs in Yunnan. The results of this study indicate that: (1) The 777 TVs in Yunnan Province are evidently clustered in the overall distribution, presenting a contiguous and concentrated distribution pattern of “3 high-density areas + multiple medium-density belts”. However, the distribution of TVs is unbalanced. The spatial distribution is significantly positively correlated globally, and there exist three types of clustering in local areas. (2) The spatial layout of TVs in Yunnan Province is jointly influenced by multiple factors, with obvious spatial heterogeneity. Regional cultural factors are the key ones. TVs tend to be distributed in areas with medium–high elevation, flat slops, sunny slopes, moderate precipitation and temperatures, and a certain distance from water sources and roads. A large number of TVs are distributed in areas with a high proportion of ethnic minorities. (3) The main factors affecting the distribution of national-level TVs in Yunnan are intangible cultural heritage, cultural relic protection units, followed by factors such as transportation, slope, and elevation. The interaction between intangible cultural heritage (X11) and cultural relic protection units (X12) reveals the strongest interactive driving force. This study reveals the diverse characteristics of the spatial distribution of national-level TVs in Yunnan and their influencing mechanisms, which can provide a scientific decision-making basis for the future protection and development of TVs in Yunnan and guide the sustainable development of TV cultural heritage clusters. Full article