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The role of bio-pollutants in the indoor air quality of old museum buildings: artworks biodeterioration as preview of human diseases

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Abstract

Indoor air quality in buildings is strongly affected by chemical, physical, and biological agents. Long exposure to inadequate indoor air quality can be very dangerous for the building occupants and can lead to chronic diseases associated with the sick building syndrome (SBS). In this paper, the large presence of biological pollutants in the indoor rooms of an old building and its strict relationship with the outdoor/indoor air conditions were investigated studying Coronini Cronberg Palace Foundation, a historic house museum of the sixteenth century in Gorizia (Italy), where biological contamination affecting the artworks can soon become potentially harmful also for operators and visitors. Detailed aerobiological and microbiological analyses on organic natural materials, combined with a microclimate monitoring, were conducted to evaluate the influence of temperature and relative humidity levels within the Palace in the conspicuous growth and diffusion of microorganisms. Fungal and bacterial colonies damaging materials, mainly affected by the sudden fluctuations of hygrothermal values, were found to widely exceed Italian and international recommended levels for good air quality for both artworks and human beings. Understand their impact on human health would be strictly necessary to reduce biological risks for museum staff and cultural heritage users, but consequently to improve indoor air quality.

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Acknowledgements

For the realization of this work, we would thank the staff of the Coronini Cronberg Palace Onlus Foundation, especially the director Dr. Enrico Graziano, to give us the possibility to conduct analytical researches and the responsible of cultural activities Dr. Serenella Ferrari for her kind assistance in every phases of analysis and sampling of the artworks. Our thanks are also directed to Dr. Riccardo Balzarotti of SERVIZIMUSEALI.COM society (Bologna, Italy) for his active collaboration in the microclimate monitoring within the Palace.

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  1. Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics (DAIS), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Scientific Campus, Via Torino 155, Venice-Mestre, 30170, Italy

    Maela Baldan & Francesca Caterina Izzo

  2. Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems Dept. (DSMN), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Scientific Campus, via Torino 155, Venice-Mestre, 30170, Italy

    Sabrina Manente

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  1. Maela Baldan
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Contributions

Maela Baldan: formal analysis and investigation, data curation, writing — original draft preparation. Sabrina Manente: conceptualization, methodology, resources, validation, formal analysis and investigation, writing — review and editing, supervision. Francesca C. Izzo: conceptualization, resources, writing — review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Sabrina Manente.

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Baldan, M., Manente, S. & Izzo, F.C. The role of bio-pollutants in the indoor air quality of old museum buildings: artworks biodeterioration as preview of human diseases. Environ Monit Assess 193, 787 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09568-z

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