The Conservation of Decorated Surfaces on Earthen Architecture: An International Colloquium Organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and the National Park Service, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, USA, September 22–25, 2004

Edited by Leslie Rainer and Angelyn Bass Rivera

For millennia, people of all cultures have decorated the surfaces of their domestic, religious, and public buildings. Earthen architecture in particular has been, and continues to be, a common ground for surface decoration such as paintings, sculpted bas-relief, and ornamental plasterwork. This volume explores the complex issues associated with preserving these surfaces. Case studies from Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas are presented.

The publication is the result of a colloquium held in 2004, at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, co-organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and the National Park Services. The meeting brought together fifty-five conservators, cultural resource managers, materials scientists, engineers, architects, archaeologists, anthropologists, and artists from eleven countries to present recent conservation work and discuss possibilities for future research and collaboration.

Divided into four themes—Archaeological Sites, Museum Practice, Historic Buildings, and Living Traditions—the papers examine the conservation of decorated surfaces on earthen architecture within these different contexts.

Leslie Rainer is a senior project specialist and wall paintings conservator at the Getty Conservation Institute. Angelyn Bass Rivera is an architectural conservator with the National Park Services, Bandelier National Monument.

"Proceedings volumes can be deadly dull and useful only as reference books. [This book] rises above that pitfall and provides a broad picture of the issues, approaches, and progress of an increasingly important area of architectural conservation."
—Journal of the American Institute of Conservation