Restoration of historic prints

Project goals

Since the restoration workshop for fire-damaged documents opened in 2008, conservators have steadily gained experience and knowledge in treating severely fire-damaged books. In the meantime, their standardised process can be adapted to address the specific characteristics of print materials and their respective conditions.

Among the historic prints which were most severely damaged in the library fire of 2004, the so-called “ash books”, there are also fragments of large-format books. Thanks to funding provided by the Deutsche Stiftung Denkmalschutz, conservators can now systematically integrate selected large-format works of high cultural value in the mass-treatment process in place at the restoration workshop.

The funding volume of € 27,672 will help conservators restore some 5,200 sheets. These will be initially cleaned in a wet-treatment process, refurbished and then stabilised to recreate double-leaf sheets. The resulting book blocks will be bound in a standardised protective cover, and in short time, be made available again to Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek users.