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Natural History Museum, 1010 Vienna

The restoration of the façade of the Natural History Museum built from 1871 to 1889 by G. Semper and K. Hasenauer was carried out between 2000 and 2010 in several work phases. Our company conducted the pilot project on the northeastern corner risalit of the façade along Bellariastraße as well as six sections of the façade (see Project Data). The façades were in an exceptionally deteriorated overall condition. The main challenge was the extreme degree of soiling and extent of efflorescence of the stone surfaces, especially on the ground floor façades. Figures and architectural elements were so completely covered by mineral deposits that it looked like they had been painted black. Moreover, large parts of the upper level had suffered severe weathering, causing complete loss of contours in individual elements. Our restoration work focused on a cleaning method that would remove deposits and restore contours lost to erosion (replacements made of artificial stone, indent repair, recasting of parts) yet be as gentle as possible on the stone itself. In this way it was possible to give the building a homogeneous overall image. Since 2009 we have increased our use of the Palladio Nd:YAG system for laser cleaning. In the case of the Natural History Museum it was applied to clean the limestone figures by thermomechanically loosening the unwanted layers. This process preserves fine traces of original workmanship without smoothing over or destroying the contours.