Klimat we wnętrzach zabytkowych kościołów z punktu widzenia konserwatora dzieł sztuki

The author, a practitioner-conservator, lectures on some issues of preservation prophylactics and she conducts research on the reasons for and mechanisms of decay of works of art. One of the lines of research in this respect is looking for climatic relations in museum and church interiors. Old buildings are complex organisms in which the climate remains a result of the interaction of numerous factors. In turn, the climate of an interior also generates a lot of dependence forming the character and pace of decaying processes in the matter of the very building and all its furniture. The problems of excessive dryness of the interior that are typical of museums practically do not occur in churches. They only concern those churches where heating has been introduced. Fortunately, in Poland most old churches do not have heating systems. However, the odds are that the fashion requiring that each church should have one with time will also prevail in the ones that have remained with a natural climate for centuries. The problem of seasonal over-dryness occurs in modern churches built of steel and concrete that have big windows and are utterly defenceless against the outer climate. In such cases over-dryness appears not only in winter, when the heating is working, but also in the summer. In churches that are not heated we never have the problem of too low wetness, and especially of the need to moisten their interiors. The main factor that causes devastation of a building and its furniture is condensation of water vapour caused by de-stabilising climatic conditions in its interior. Research has shown that when looking for an answer to the conservator’s question about the causes of decay one should base his reasoning upon the data obtained from measuring the parameters of the climate in the church and on recognising the frequency of condensation occurrence. The interior climate may be corrected by removing the walls’ dampness and its cause; by introducing effective ventilation and by a resulting possibility to eliminate the devastating condensation phenomena. Heating the church is only another measure that serves correcting the climate. Here the author gives detailed conditions for introduction of heating. However, the final decision has to result from detailed settlements reached by the user and the conservator. Hence no actions may be initiated without assuming full responsibility for their results, even distant ones, and for their impact on the future fate of the building.