LThe Abortion for Conservation and Restoration of the State Archives in Pazin began its work in 1974 with the purpose of saving valuable material in its own holdings from decay. Initially, only manual processing of damaged paper was carried out using the most basic equipment for work, while severely damaged material and book binding was entrusted to the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb due to lack of equipment. Since a list of church archives was made at that time, severely damaged material was singled out, which was immediately taken over for processing. Since then, the laboratory has been developed and renewed on several occasions, so today we have two spaces equipped with modern equipment in which several thousand sheets of written heritage are processed annually, mainly manuscript books, documents, cadastral sketches and plans, maps, etc. Older manuscript material is valuable because of its uniqueness and used, handmade materials, but in the past it has often been badly damaged and exposed to decay. The newer material, created from the end of the 19th century to the present day, is particularly sensitive and endangered due to poor paper quality and sometimes inadequate accommodation. The choice of conservation-restoration method depends on the quality of the paper, the type of writing used and the cause of the damage, and finally the value of the work of art itself. Despite the increasing choice and availability of materials and equipment and the various techniques at our disposal, the final result always depends on the skill of the restorer himself, who must approach each object in a different way, keeping in mind and respecting its historical and artistic value.
Restoration and conservation activities:
- examines the condition of damaged material
- research and develop restoration and preservation processes
- determines the method of restoration procedure
- Proposes measures and elaborates for protective works
- keeps the Book of Restored and Preserved Archival Material and other Records on Restored Construction
- controls the conditions for storing archival material in the repository
- Suggests taking protective measures
- performs expert supervision of physical protection measures for archival and other material outside the DAPA
- participates in determining priorities in the protection of materials in cooperation with the Department for the editing and processing of archival material and the Department for church material
- plans and performs restoration, conservation and binding of archive and other material of DAPA and other holders
- cares for the training and professional development of employees who perform tasks in the conservation and restoration of archival material
- manages professional conservation and restoration documentation, with photo documentation on preserved and restored material
- proposes larger restoration operations and cooperates with specialized restoration workshops
- care for continuous technological advancement of conservation and restoration work
- binds preserved and restored archival and other material, and
- performs final leaf order control and minor conservation-restoration operations as part of the preparation of books for binding or transfer.
