Viable and not viable spore concentrations in National Gallery of Umbria (Italy)

Abstract

The conservation actions towards artworks holding a common patrimony for the community are of primary importance, but also those related to their "container" as museums, libraries or archives are to consider. Fungal spores and bacteria carried by air flows to the artwork surface can colonize it causing biodeterioration through physical and/or chemical alterations of the materials with the irreversible loss of their value. The quality control of the indoor air surrounding the historic building is essential, as well as for the protection and conservation of the artwork, also for the protection of the health of operators and visitors. The aim of this study was to monitor airborne fungal particles, through volumetric spore traps, for improving the knowledge about the conservation and protection of artworks in the museum environment analysing the principal relationships between indoor environmental conditions and potentially biodeteriogen fungal spore growth. The evidence of no significant relationships between spore concentrations and environmental conditions recorded inside the different expositive rooms testified the regular and correct maintenance of the air conditioning system inside the considered building (National Gallery of Umbria, central Italy). Moreover, in a specific museum room a significant spore concentration decreasing trend was recorded mainly due to a structural modification in the same building.

Fungal diversity in environments of repository of the national archive of the Republic of Cuba from the 80s to 2022

“…The genera Acremonium, Aureobasidium, Chaetomium, Chrysonilia, Exophiala, Trichophyton and Torula have been detected in the air of foreign archives, libraries and museums. 32,37,64,67,70,72,73,77,77,85,[86][87][88]90 Likewise, the genera Itersonilia and Sprorobolomyces were isolated from dust settled on books in an Italian library 93 and a member of Botryotrichum genus was isolated from the documents surface preserved in a Polish library. 94 On the other hand, the genera Aureobasidium, Bipolaris, Sepedonium, Torula and Trichophyton were found in repositories of the Provincial Historical Archive of Pinar del Río (located in the westernmost province of the Cuba), 60 while the genera Torula and Zygosporium were found in the air of repositories of the Provincial Historical Archive of Santiago de Cuba (one of the eastern provinces of the country).…”

“…104 Despite being a rare genus in the air of archives, libraries and museums, it was recently found in the air of a Cuban archive 60 and in an Italian museum. 77 These fungi belonging to the three aforementioned genera could have entered the air of the repositories through the natural ventilation they have, since the NARC is surrounded by soil, vegetation, streets and avenues with high pedestrian and vehicular traffic, natural niches where they can be found.…”

“…In the same way, these genera have been isolated from other environments such as museums, libraries, offices, homes and schools. 19,106,[126][127][128][129]130,131 Humicola genus has previously been isolated from the archives, libraries and museums air, 54,77,82,86,89 from the indoor dust of buildings with humidity 132 as well as from the lenses of deteriorated binocular preserved in a Vietnamese museum, 133 and can cause illness in humans, particularly in immunocompromised people. 134 In general, of the 36 species isolated from dust, five were classified as abundant (Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Cladosporium caryigenum, Cl.…”

Distribution and diversity of the fungal pollution in repositories of the provincial historical archive of Villa Clara, Cuba

“…In the two isolations a marked predominance of the Aspergillus and Cladosporium genera was detected, a result that agrees with others previously obtained in Cuban archives. 9,28,34,52-54 However, Penicillium, a genus that has been predominantly detected in other environments of Cuban archives 49,[52][53][54] and in libraries, archives and museums of other world regions, 50,51,[55][56][57] was only detected in the first sampling. Fusarium, Nigrospora, Rhizopus, Rhodotorula and Talaromyces genera were also detected in the first sampling, while Chrysosporium, Neurospora and Nigrospora genera were detected in the second isolation.…”