Scientific investigation of the Imperial Gates belonging to the wooden church from Săcel, Turda County, Romania

• Published in: Spectrochimica acta. Part A, Molecular and biomolecular spectroscopy Vol. 152; pp. 311 - 317
• Main Authors: Măruţoiu, C., Bratu, I., Troşan, L., Neamtu, C., Măruţoiu, V.C., Pop, D., Tănăselia, C., Garabagiu, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 05.01.2016
• Subjects: 3D reconstruction; Art and constituent materials; FTIR and XRF spectroscopy; Imperial Gates; Art and constituent materials; FTIR and XRF spectroscopy; 3D reconstruction; Imperial Gates
• ISSN: 1386-1425; 1873-3557
• DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2015.07.083

[Display omitted] •The painting layer of an imperial gate (a church in Romania) has been investigated.•XRF and FTIR measurements have been performed on the painting materials.•The nature of the pigments has been assessed.•The nature of the constituent wood has been established.•A 3D restoration model has been proposed. Cultural heritage objects have a major contribution to the historical patrimony of every country. In Romania, wooden churches are famous, they are mostly dated in between the XVth and XXth century, but unfortunately many of them have been destroyed, by natural or anthropic means. Therefore, the necessity of conservation and restoration has appeared, to the ones that still exist, as legacy for the future generations. In the present article, an Imperial Gate from a wooden church in Cluj County, Romania, has been investigated, using scientific techniques (FTIR and XRF). A 3D reconstruction has been performed, using similar colors with the original artwork, as resulted from the scientific investigation of the painting materials. A limited number of constituent materials have been used for this artwork, and the wood species used was lime, due to the ease of carving.