Project effects
Church of St. Nicholas – Lądek
List of churchesRENOVATION OF THE MEDIEVAL CRUCIFIX FROM THE CHURCH OF ST. NICHOLAS IN LĄDEK
The statue of the Crucified Christ was made in the second half of the 15th in the late Gothic style. The figure of Christ was 80x50cm, and its condition before the renovation had been good. The figure had been painted multiple times, and the structure of wood was weakened due to xylophages’ activity.
Construction fragments were cracked in some places which happened in the course of wood drying. A few mechanical damages occurred (lack of toes), unoriginal carpentry interventions and cavities in the wood-carving and construction decorations were discovered. Multiple repainting of the polychromy led to a faster degradation of the object.
The purpose of the renovation was to prevent the ongoing damage of the crucifix. Renovation works aimed to restore aesthetic value and to prolong its worship function.
Before conservation works, the object was examined in the visible side- and stray lights as well as in the UV light in order to study the process of conservation works. Then the layer of paint was examined in terms of its resistance to solvents. After preliminary analyses, the reverse side of painted wood was cleaned with hard soap.
The cleaning and testing of different solvents preceded removal of layers of overpaint. When the unoriginal layers were taken off, wood was impregnated, and then the missing elements were filled with putty. The original polychromy of the statue was unified in terms of colours, and in the final stage it was secured with a satin varnish.
