BS EN 17488:2021

This standard BS EN 17488:2021 Conservation of cultural heritage. Procedure for the analytical evaluation to select cleaning methods for porous inorganic materials used in cultural heritage is classified in these ICS categories:

• 97.195 Items of art and handicrafts. Cultural property and heritage

This document gives the test methodology for evaluation of both harmfulness and effectiveness of a cleaning method as applied to porous inorganic materials. Mural paintings and polychromy are excluded.

Evaluation includes the use of on-site analyses and/or laboratory studies.

The evaluation of the potential harm has a higher priority than the effectiveness in order to prevent overcleaning. It is important that cleaning is always at the minimum level deemed effective and that it respects the original surface and finishes. Overcleaning is a term used to indicate that irreversible damage has been done by the unnecessary removal of materials, which are part of the value of the object.

This document applies to:

1. Part A: all methods of cleaning, which have characteristics of parameterization and reproducibility (see EN 17138 ).

2. Part B: all new methods that are under development.

This document applies to evaluate the optimum methods for cleaning and the optimization of the parameters of the selected cleaning process.