Mineralogiczno-petrograficzne metody badań podatności na niszczenie zabytkowej architektury kamiennej

Factors conducive for the damage of old stone elements are both those of an outside nature (climatic and microclimatic, anthropogenic and biogenic) and internal, connected with the type of stone, its structure and mineral composition. Considerable damage of elements made from the same type of stone, which takes place despite the fact that they are threatened by identical outside factors, is the outcome of differences in the mineral composition, texture, structure and certain properties of the surface (especially the distribution of the sizes of pores) of the employed varieties of stone (e. g. limestone from Pińczow). The results of mineralogical-chemical and petrographie investigations, obtained in recent years, can be applied in suitable prophylactic and conservation as well as in experimental research. Present-day conservation, therefore, calls for the co-operation of representatives of many branches of science.