International Journal of Engineering and Technology

Cultural heritage art works are exposed to weather and influence of various environmental parameters. Physicals, chemicals and biological factors interact with constitutive materials inducing changes both in its compositional and structural characteristics. A certain aspect of matter transformation is due to the metabolic activity connected with the growth of living organisms. The purpose of this paper is to analyse in depth the icons and wood materials (of both icos and church structures) in the collection of Medieval Art Museum of Korça and the famous Church of Theotokos (14th Century) in Maligrad Isle, Prespa. The survey was considering 60 icons and for all of them is done the categorization of icons according the panel construction, insect identification and the disinfection process of icons with the thermal treating in Thermo Lignum apparatus. The microscope observation revealed presence of Anobium punctatum in the icon collection, while other insects and fungi presence has been recorded in the Church of Theotokos. The method applied for the disinfection of icons is the Thermal treating in Thermo Lignium, which efficiently eliminates all kinds of insects at 55°C. The icons were treated at 55°C for 9 hours, while the positive effect clearly evidenced.