Conservation Center for Cultural Properties
The Conservation Center for Cultural Properties is not open to the public, but behind the scenes it fulfills an essential role in the museum’s mission of preserving important art works for posterity. This Center was opened in 1980 to serve as a controlled environment and efficient workspace for the conservation, restoration, replication, and reproduction of non-architectural cultural properties by private conservation studios.
Today’s Center is the result of the process of evolution that began when the museum was built in the 1890s. Conservation and restoration work were first conducted within an earthen-walled storage structure on the museum grounds, then in the basement of the former Collections Hall, and later in the Reference Hall for Technical Data, which also served as a storage facility. The new Center provides facilities fully equipped for professional conservators, including an x–ray room, scientific treatment spaces, and a fumigation room.
Work on important paintings and calligraphy, sculpture, and textiles owned by the museum or outside entities is carried out under the supervision of museum curators in the professional conservation studios inside the Center. The Center also conducts surveys and studies related to Japanese and East Asian art conservation and organizes discussions and periodic observation sessions to foster interaction among conservators, Center researchers, and other Kyoto National Museum curators.