Alert ! French conservators-restorers are in danger !

This cause has merit. (One assumes that the specifics of this case are correctly reported?)

One suspects that some of this familiar confusion can be traced back to the "sticky" assumption which holds, purporting that conservation is a product of the Humanities. (Not even all conservators are innocent of this perspective, one regrets to say).  If it values itself, conservation science - as profession - should take care to affirm, point out and celebrate its primary foundations, seated firmly within the Natural Sciences.

The fact that this science is deployed on the objects born of the Humanities, (and that it enriches itself with a number of disciplines from those halls) is a frequent source of confusion to the casual enquirer. In actual fact, this bears testimony to conservation's fascinating duality: With both feet rooted in the sciences, the conservator leans across the divide to engage the failing fabric of man's heritage - with both hands and heart. Still, the practitioners are scientists, firstly and foremostly.

Adriaan Botha, Chairman, The South African Institute for Heritage Science & Conservation