Regarding the treatment of religious relics, the principles cited by Richard and Helena Jaeschke in their reply to the query are surely appropriate, especially "do the minimum."
Obviously it is very important to respect the wishes and sensibilities of the relics' owners. I would add another factor that conservators ought to consider: the possibility of future scientific testing. Some repairs that might meet all the other conditions could ruin the relic's potential to yield information or be authenticated. For example, the use of a consolidant such as soluble nylon would spoil any possibility of C14 dating. There are MANY other examples. Anyone interested in a worst case scenario can consult my article on "The 'restoration' of the Turin Shroud: a conservation and scientific disaster" published in *e-conservation online*, 2010, v. 13, p. 28-42 available at http://hub.hku.hk/bitstream/10722/208511/1/Content.pdf William Meacham Research Fellow 1980-2012 Centre of Asian Studies University of Hong Kong ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to [email protected] Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
