Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art

The primary goal of education is to equip students with knowledge and competencies related to theoretical and practical conservation issues, as well as to develop manual conservation skills during exercises. Students conduct conservation projects: they explore, describe, and then subject original works of art to conservation and restoration work. Then they create technological copies and participate in artistic workshops and en plein – airs, conservation practices, and research projects.

Students of The Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art participate in artistic, laboratory, and technological classes. They acquire knowledge in the fields of art history, philosophy, material science, iconography, the use of modern research equipment, as well as chemistry, physics, and even microbiology. They learn to draw, paint, sculpt, and acquire a multitude of conservation skills enabling comprehensive (often complicated) activities aimed at protecting and extending the life of artworks. Students have the opportunity to participate in professional internships and en plein – airs, student exchanges, conservation and research missions and projects in Poland and around the world, and benefit from scientific grants. All of these components contribute to the preparation for the profession of an art conservator.

„The Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art cooperates with museums, archives, libraries, scientific institutions in Poland and abroad, owners of historic buildings such as churches, and private individuals. It involves acquiring works of art for educational purposes. Additionally, the faculty cooperates with foreign conservation institutions within the framework of scientific grants, student exchange programs, and collaborative research and conservation projects” – Dr Monika Jadzińska, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art

The educational programme aims to provide knowledge to students regarding various aspects of conservation, both theoretical and practical, and to teach them skills related to manual conservation activities, through practical exercises.

The educational programme prepares students for a career in the field of art conservation and allows them to specialize in disciplines requiring further studies. The programme aims to deepen and develop the student’s knowledge and skills related to a specific specialization while introducing them to additional, specific issues. The curriculum is flexible, allowing for individual student development and academic progression as much as possible. The programme enables students to acquire knowledge that is useful and practical in the context of cultural heritage preservation tasks. The foundation of the programme involves learning to identify artworks and the causes of their destruction, recognizing the author’s ideas and the technical and technological structure of the work. Lectures on the theory and methodology of conservation, as well as material science, serve to both refine knowledge and present the issues in a broader context. The programme emphasizes the variety of solutions in the field of conservation and restoration and instils a sense of respect for works of art. Students are also taught how to prepare specialized conservation documentation for historic buildings including detailed descriptions of the object itself (history, art history, technique, and technology) as well as the conservation work process. Additionally, the preparation of documentation following established guidelines and the creation of multimedia documentation are practised.

The educational programme enables students to learn effective conservation procedures and teaches methods for saving the original substance of historic objects and modern artworks. This is achieved through exercises and lectures that provide knowledge about conservation techniques, technologies, and research methods that enable the identification of primary and secondary materials. During the classes, there are discussed issues related to artistic and aesthetic problems occurring in works of historic buildings and to the original message and intention of the creator of the work. The exercises teach how to apply the acquired knowledge in practice, initially on objects created as part of technological exercises (replicas of historic objects), and then on historic objects. The learning process follows the master – student relationship. Students independently undertake conservation projects, develop written and photographic documentation of the conservation work, attend a minor seminar in which they take part in a discussion, make multimedia presentations and write seminar papers based on the material they have acquired and developed independently. The higher – master’s seminar is conducted individually and closely related to the topic of the master’s thesis.