A Methodological Approach to the Safeguard of the Wooden Door of Todi Cathedral

Abstract

The study for the central wooden door of the Todi Cathedral has been the subject of two theses of the Faculty of Conservation of Cultural Heritage of Tuscia University. The aim of the research was to characterize the state of conservation of the artefact in comparison with the environmental microclimate. In parallel with the microclimatic survey, naked eye observations, laboratory analyses of the wooden species (carried out in the Department of Forests and Environments Laboratory of Tuscia University) and of the restoration materials (carried out in the Laboratory of Diagnostics for Conservation and Restoration “Michele Cordaro” of the Faculty of Conservation of Cultural Heritage of Tuscia University) have been also performed, in order to obtain experimental data valuable for conservation. A bibliographic study of documents available at the archive of Todi Cathedral has allowed to reconstruct the historical phases of realization and past restorations of the artefact. The wooden door of Todi Cathedral was realized in 1521 by the master Antonio Bencivegna da Mercatello da Massa. In 1623 it was seriously damaged by a lightning, so some years later, in 1639, the door was partly reconstructed by the artist Carlo Lorenti. Instead the plinth was reconstructed in 1792. Afterwards the door underwent several restoration interventions; the last one was carried out between 1998 and 1999. Nowadays the state of conservation of the door is seriously compromised because of both the last incorrect restoration interventions and the position that the wooden door takes up in the Cathedral façade. The deterioration of the surface above all was caused by the variations of temperature and relative humidity (RH%) and it is different in the various parts of the door. In fact, the inner surface shows a less deterioration due to both the more stable environmental conditions and the plain manufacturing typology.