Polychrome Wooden Objects and Paintings

Most people know what a painting is, but what are “polychrome wooden objects”?
These are wooden objects, such as sculptures, altars, pulpits or half-timbered beams, which are painted, i.e. "covered" with primers, paints and coatings. Our field of study deals with the preservation of these painted wooden objects and with painting on canvas or other materials.

The Hildesheim campus offers us many important churches within a small area as well as museums and collections, both large and small, with which we maintain close contact, both locally and in the immediate vicinity. We work with the students directly on site in the collections, depots and churches as part of project weeks, and we move art objects of conservation interest from these co-operation partners to the restoration workshop so that the students can work on them. These art objects are examined, photographed and documented by the students in the respective modules. The original materials and techniques are determined, as well as the history of the objects with all further changes and the existing damages. Lectures and practical exercises teach the basics of conservation and restoration techniques before the students transfer these methods and techniques to the art objects.

The students work on the objects in the restoration workshop under our supervision and discuss the concepts and work steps in student colloquia. Additional "project weeks" in the Bachelor's and Master's programmes offer a good opportunity to document collections as well as ecclesiastical or secular interior decoration in Germany and abroad and to develop concepts for the professional conservation of the objects. The large field of preventive conservation, i.e. the prevention of further damage to the objects, is taught directly on site.