X-Ray Lab - Laboratory of Non-destructive analysis

The laboratory is devoted to development of mobile instrumentation and innovative methodologies for the noninvasive characterization of cultural heritage and archaeological material. Techniques are based on X-ray beams (XRS) and charged particles (IBA) and are applied both as local analysis and through the most advanced imaging techniques.The analyses, which are applied in situ, provide useful information for the knowledge and conservation of the artworks under study. The field of intervention of the laboratory concerns various materials like pigments, metal alloys, precious metals, ceramics, inks, glass.Over the years, the laboratory has carried out scientific activities on artworks of high historic and artistic value belonging to the collection of the important national and international museums. These include the intervention on the materials of Tomb of Kha at the Egyptian Museum in Turin; the analyses of gold objects discovered in the Griffin Warrior's Tomb at the Nestore Palace in Pylos; the investigation of the painted panels of Pitsa at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.