Editoriale
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/4948
application/pdf
1973-9494
4948
en
Salvatore Lorusso
Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
Editorial
Text.Serial.Journal
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/
14
Editorial
2014-12-20
2015-03-23
2014-12-20
2015-11-02
23-26
CSCH
Salvatore Lorusso
2014/12/20
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/4948
23
1973-9494
en
26
Editorial
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/4948/4717
14
E    DITORIAL




   ALMA MATER STUDIORUM UNIVERSITÀ                    РОССИЙСКАЯ АКАДЕМИЯ
             DI BOLOGNA                                ЕСТЕСТВЕННЫХ НАУК




   Election as a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences:
   happiness is like a butterfly.

   Salvatore Lorusso


    My respectful greetings to everyone present.
    I would like to start with a few words from Prof. Angelo Pompilio, Director of the
Department of Cultural Heritage of the Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna University,
Ravenna, Italy.
    “I am extremely pleased by Professor Salvatore Lorusso’s election as a Foreign




                                                                                                    CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and would like to say, together
with the members of the Department of Cultural Heritage, that we are with Professor
Lorusso in spirit for this prestigious award and would like to express our most sincere
thanks to the President and members of the Academy, convinced of the importance of
the synergy between art and science and also in the shared scientific aims that unite
our Institutions”.
    Why does the title of my presentation on this particular occasion end with Nathan-
iel Hawthorne’s quotation “happiness is like a butterfly”? Because, a butterfly, “when
pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you”.
    Well, on this occasion it has alighted on me, certainly not waiting quietly for it to do
so, but because someone – and I am profoundly grateful to them – allowed the butter-
fly to settle on me: my deep appreciation therefore goes to the President of the Acad-
emy, Distinguished Professor Oleg Kuznetsov; to those who supported my election,
as well as the Chairman, from the Division of Chemistry and Member of the Academy
Presidium, Distinguished Professor Valery Petrosyan of the Division of Chemistry; and
to all of you, who have allowed me to be part of your Scientific Family: the Russian
Academy of Natural Sciences.
    My presentation will address some brief considerations concerning Cultural and
Environmental Heritage and represent a summary describing the fundamental aspects
at the basis of my study over the years.


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                              First of all, I think that the following assertion is pertinent to our life and, in particu-
                          lar, to cultural and environmental heritage: “Our past is part of our future through our
                          present”.
                              This truth can be applied to art, because the various artistic conceptions, expres-
                          sions and productions are linked to each other and to the history of man.
                              The second assertion is: art and science, art is science, because “art and science
                          are two different but complementary ways of reading reality”. This concept of “reading
                          reality” is very important to us and to the study of Cultural Heritage. In fact “read” is syn-
                          onymous of the following path: knowledge, interpretation, and evaluation of art work.
                          This sequence is carried out through subjective evaluation performed by historians,
                          and objective evaluation performed by technicians. This twofold possibility, connected
                          to the fusion and reciprocal need of art and science, represent the “core and nucleus”
                          of my intervention and, correspondingly, of the study of Cultural Heritage.
                              In relation to “art”, I would like to mention one of the greatest and most versatile
                          geniuses in the history of humanity – an Italian artist with a many-sided personality:
                          painter, architect, sculptor, writer, art theorist, scientist, engineer – Leonardo da Vinci,
                          who underlines that: “Wisdom is the daughter of experience… and experience does
                          not err, only our judgments do”.
                              I would like to emphasize these keywords: “wisdom”, “experience” and “judgments”,
                          that is to say, experience and consequent wisdom determines “judgments”. This fun-
                          damental concept is at the basis of the evaluation of the work of art.
                              In relation to “science”, as an extension of technology, it is continuously in progress
                          and so creates a sense of incompleteness.
                              One of its emblematic representatives is another brilliant personality, a Russian
                          chemist, who made a great contribution to science, and both Russian and international
                          culture, and to chemistry, physics, geology, art (mosaics), literature, poetry, geography,
                          cartography and astronomy, Michail V. Lomonosov. He points out:
                               “The intellect with the help of science penetrates the secrets of matter, indicating
                          where the truth lies. Science and experience are only tools, they are only the means
                          for gathering materials for the intellect”.
                              Here again, I would like to underline these expressions: “intellect”, “science”, “truth”,
                          “experience” because they are just as essential in making any kind of judgment.
S. Lorusso - Editorial




                                        Leonardo da Vinci                                Michail V. Lomonosov




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    What these two geniuses, Leonardo and Lomonosov, have expressed, allows one
to understand how the man of science and the man of art can coexist, without the
one ever prevailing over the other and how it is possible to achieve results and reap
success in both fields at the same time. They in fact sensed the revolutionary value of
technics and technology and sought to converge the arts and humanities, bridging the
gap between “the two cultures”: these two aspects of their personalities come alive in
their work, in their mission. Ultimately, it can be said that: Art and Science are two ways
of narrating the history of the world: not two entities in contrast with each other, but two
different complementary ways of “reading reality”.
    Deriving from these concepts is the holistic value of art work, which is a set of values
connected to different scientific areas.
    As a result, education and research have an important role in the “system: artifact-
environment-biota”, with the aim not only of protecting artifacts, but also of safeguard-
ing human health: the implementation of an appropriate and complete methodological
path is therefore necessary.
    And in addressing the environment, understood as a cultural asset in respect of
ecosustainability, the World Wide Fund for Nature points out that: “Nature does not
support the human footprint”. In other words the human footprint exceeds the regen-
erative and receptive capacity of natural systems.
    It is evident from the above, that the study and approach of the various and in-
tegrated scientific experiences and competences are fundamental for “the good of
cultural goods”. At the same time, however, this interdisciplinarity is necessary for the
training, teaching and education of professional figures in this sector, to enable them
to compete at a national and international level.
    It is just as true to say that the cultural object with its holistic value, important in study
and research, meets the needs of internationalization, both in the scientific field and
in the employment market. The cultural significance of a work of art, moreover, goes




                                                                                                          CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
well beyond local and national confines, requiring involvement and participation, in its
role of acculturation, joy, contemplation, enjoyment, sadness, pathos and enthusiasm.
    An emblematic example of interdisciplinarity and internationalization in the field of
heritage research is represented by the setting up of the project “Italy-Russia-Armenia”
on the theme of “Atmospheric pollution, protection of cultural property and quality of life
in megalopolises”. Participants in the project are:
    •      the Diagnostic Laboratory for Cultural Heritage of the Department of Cultural
           Heritage, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna , Ravenna Campus,
           Italy;
    •      the Department of Chemistry and the Faculty of Arts of Lomonosov Moscow
           State University;
    •      the Center of Ecology and Health of Moscow;
    •      the Institute of Chemical Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ar-
           menia.
    Below is a summary of the key points underpinning the research:
    1. The study is to be conducted by various experts from different cultural back-
           grounds and competences in respect of interdisciplinarity.
    2. As regards the impact of atmospheric pollution, research is not only applied to
           the protection of cultural heritage, but also to human safeguard (biota).
    3. This problem is particularly acute in megalopolises, due to the very intensive
           traffic and productive activities which determine high concentrations of atmos-


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                                    pheric pollution. But I would like to underline the synergic effects of different
                                    factors and chemical agents. The choice of the sites and artifacts is representa-
                                    tive, not only from an artistic-architectural, but also a logistic-environmental
                                    perspective: here I would like to point out, in particular, the prestigious sites in
                                    Bologna, Ravenna and Moscow.
                              4. At the end of the research, it is then fundamental to share and communicate
                                    results, not only to experts and scientists, but also to political representatives of
                                    the government and the general public.
                              In renewing my sincere thanks to the President of the Academy, Professor Oleg
                          Kuznetsov, the Academicians and to all of you for the honor you have conferred on me
                          with my election as a Foreign Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, I would
                          like to gather in one embrace, two dear friends and colleagues from the Lomonosov
                          University, whom I met at different times, but with whom I share one unique profound
                          feeling and common scientific interest: the Chemist Professor Valery Petrosyan, of
                          the Department of Chemistry, who as well as introducing me and helping me in at-
                          taining this prestigious election, has allowed me to meet the Philologist, Professor
                          Aleksandre Lobodanov, Deputy of the Department of the Semiotics and Basic Theory
                          of Fine Arts and Dean of the Faculty of Arts. They represent – and not only scientifi-
                          cally – concrete evidence of the belief in “two different languages, one culture” a truth
                          already expressed by the Rector Professor Ivano Dionigi of the Alma Mater Studiorum
                          University of Bologna and the Academician Professor Cosimo Damiano Fonseca and
                          on which the Department of Cultural Heritage’s activities are based: so, taking up once
                          more what I initially underlined “art and science, art is science”.
                              They represent, from both a human and scientific point of view, concrete proof that
                          there are: “Two different languages in a single culture” and therefore taking up what I
                          initially emphasized:
                              “Art and science, art is science”.
                              To end, I would like to embrace and trace back my forty years of university activity
                          and experience to those basic principles defined as pillars of an individual’s develop-
                          ment inside the scientific community:
                              •       competence -> I have acquired, but I don’t know to what extent;
                              •       courage -> in some cases, perhaps too much, but I haven’t been aware of it;
                              •       merit ->it is you, today, who have spoken with authority and to you today that
                          I must humbly address my deepest gratitude.
                              And speaking once more of Lomonosov:
                              “Science is the clear recognition of the truth, pure enlightenment of the intellect,
                          enjoyment of life, praise in youth, support in old age, builder of cities, troops, strong-
                          hold of success in misfortune, ornament in happiness, an ever faithful and inseparable
                          traveling companion”.
                              So, in achieving this objective, I will have the certainty that “happiness is like a but-
                          terfly”.
S. Lorusso - Editorial




                              My profound gratitude to you all.




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