Deterioration of collagen in parchment

Manuscripts of parchment belong to the most valuable objects of European cultural heritage. With the increasing air pollution the deterioration of parchment is severely accellerated, and within a few decades, an enormous demand for conservation and restauration is expected. A research group with participants from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain and France has been established to examine the mechanisms of deterioration. The experimental techniques used in the analyses are X-ray fiber diffraction, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, hydrothermal stability measurements and amino acid determination.