Conservation

The Conservation Department is dedicated mainly to preserving the condition on objects on paper from all the collections of the Jewish Historical Institute.

The staff is responsible for constant monitoring of historical objects at exhibitions as well as in storage, taking care of their best possible condition and assessing the needs in terms of future tasks related to conservation and restoration. Conservators are also responsible for controlling climate conditions in which the collections are being stored.

Conservators prepare objects for exhibitions at the JHI and for the purpose of lending them to external institutions. Their tasks include: the actual conservation, framing objects in passe-partouts and in proper frames. Conservators develop also a system of packing and transporting the objects.

Our workshop conserves and restores archive documents, historical prints, etchings, watercolours, pastel drawings, photographs, oil paintings, sculptures and crafts. The majority of conservation works are done by JHI employees, with occasional external commissions.

Care for historical objects is a responsible task dedicated to present as well as future generations. Many objects in our collections are unique, hence the particular care for their condition and preservation.

Our Workshop worked on the complex conservation of documents from the Ringelblum Archive – a part of the UNESCO Memory of the World list since 1999.

The Department is in cooperation with institutions dedicated to conservation and research on art.