Revolutionising cultural heritage conservation

Meanwhile, there is a growing understanding of the important role hands-on experience of historical objects – or replicas – has in the learning process of children and adults alike – particularly those with vision impairments.

Our research – dating back several years – is encouraging greater use of modern digital techniques by conservators to restore heritage artefacts and create replicas to increase public engagement with museum exhibitions.

Our work has been undertaken in collaboration with several organisations, and the nature of the projects have been varied.

Collaborations with the Palace Museum, Summer Palace Museum and Garden Museum (Beijing) have developed a new approach for the replication and restoration of artefacts, spanning objects made from stone, bronze and wood. The techniques have also been applied to fragile cloisonné, ceramic and gold-leaf objects – even sections of ancient buildings.

With archaeologists at the University of Manchester we have advanced methods for the reproduction of ancient Egyptian votive offerings. In addition, computer-aided visualisation techniques and replicas for hands-on displays have been developed to help visitors – to the Gifts for the Gods: Animal Mummies Revealed exhibition – better understand the contents of mummies.