KONS2061 – Understanding the Indoor Climate in Museums, Galleries and Archives

Course content

Environmental monitoring and control is an essential part of preventive conservation. This module will consider environmental agents of deterioration that contribute to the decay and loss of cultural heritage collections.

The course is aimed at students wishing to work within the cultural heritage sector - providing them with a basic understanding of the impact of the indoor climate within museums, galleries and archives and the preservation of objects. It introduces the student to:

  • The nature of relative humidity, temperature, light, pollution and pests
  • The sources of environmental agents of deterioration
  • The type of damage these factors can do to museum collections
  • How to monitor or detect
  • How to prevent or mitigate damage

Learning outcome

On completion of this course, it is expected that students will be able to:

  • Recognise environmental agents of deterioration and their impact on museum collections
  • Explain the mechanism by which an agent of deterioration causes harm to museum objects
  • Identify environmental sources of potential damage within the museum environment
  • Use basic environmental monitoring equipment typically owned by museums
  • Describe the nature of environmental agents and their impact on museum collections
  • Select theoretically appropriate climatic conditions for the safe storage and display of cultural objects

  • Execute and report on simple experiments

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Formal prerequisite knowledge

KONS1000 – Introduction to conservation and collection care

The course assumes a good proficiency in written and oral English.

Overlapping courses

Teaching

The course consists of learningpaths in Canvas and 11 seminars

The qualifier consist of two parts:

Part 1:

During the course students have to submit 5 short obligatory assignments. Each assignment consists of 10 questions concerning defining, calculating and monitoring relative humidity, temperature, light and pollution levels in museums, galleries and archives.

The question sheets will be published in Canvas. In order to pass the assignment, the student needs to demonstrate that he/she has attempted to answer all questions. Filled out sheets are submitted in Canvas in the dedicated hand-in files. Questions will be discussed in the seminars and the answers posted in Canvas app. 1 week after the questions. Dates for submission will be published in Canvas.

Part 2: