Preserve and restore art objects
Carved group: Virgin of Mercy in polychrome wood, XVIIIe century (classified in 1964) L'Épine, parish church. Restoration of Atelier Cyril Augier, 2011 | Processional banner: A side Donation of the Rosary to Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine; B side Saint Stephen. Silk Damask with Application Embroidery, XIXe century (ranked in 2008) Vallouise, parish church. Restoration of Atelier Béatrice Girault-Kurzmann, 2011 |
Painting: Saint Peter and Saint Benedict, oil on canvas, 1704 (ranked in 1999) Crots, the parish church. Restoration of Atelier Toshiro Matsunaga, 2012 * Chanci: mould deterioration | Painting: Saint Claude and Saint Anthony framing the Trinity and the Virgin, oil on canvas, XVIIIe century (ranked in 2008) Val-des-Près, parish church. Restoration of the Victorian Marine Workshop, 2012 |
Objects to be preserved in situ
The historical and artistic movable heritage protected under the title of historical monuments has the particularity of being preserved in place in churches, chapels and, if necessary, in civil houses and buildings, public or private. These works, together with the building containing them, form a whole, to which they are linked by decades or even centuries of common history. The purpose of any conservation and restoration operation is to maintain these movable objects in situ in order to preserve them in their context of creation and use.
Preventive conservation is one of the first steps. It consists in acting on the environment of the work: the building of course, but also its more restricted environment (storage and arrangement of sacristies, conditioning and safety of fragile works for example).
Multiple threats
While in the Hautes-Alpes many works have remained in place until today, many are in poor condition of preservation, especially the paintings, and show various degradation due to the ambient humidity, the dust, the activity of insect pests, the wear and tear of time, and also sometimes to abusive repairs such as the polychrome remade on the statues.
The annual programming allows to restore objects (paintings, sculptures, textiles, etc.) thanks to the financing of the State, the General Council and the municipalities owners, with the help, according to certain criteria, of the Regional Council. These restorations, subject to precise specifications, are entrusted to specially trained restorers, working under the scientific and technical control of the Regional Conservation of Historic Monuments.