O potrzebie rozbudowy studiów konserwacji zabytków ruchomych

The author has subjected to a detailed analysis the entitled persons being members of Conservation Sedemand for conservators of mobile monuments in ctipn within the Union of Polish Artists and those museums and in the State Enterprise for Conserv- granted with an offkral permission in exception to ation of Art (PKZ). According to regulations in general rules but at the same time accepted by the force in this country to do the conservator’s job are Conservation Section. The membership of this Section at present amounts to 296, however, according to data gathered by the author some of them are not permanently working in this line, as e.g. a certain number of retired a r tists, those disabled by illness or women burdened with their household duties. In addition to about one hundred conservators working under contract in the S tate Enterprise for Conservation of Art (PKZ) and some forty others in museums as much as about hundred artists are working as free lancing ones. It is the au th o r’s opinion th a t the lasting demand for conservator’s services will prevent these free lancing conservators from coming to work under contract in the state-owned ateliers and conservation departments. A considerable growth planned in the State Enterprise for Conservât’on of Art (PKZ) for the next years, the need to have the newly employed staff in existing ateliers and also the growth of conservation departments in museums will necessitate by 1975 employing some 160 conservators. At the a rtistic schools with studies of the conservation art included in their curricula s,ome 24 persons are graduated each year, among them a certain number of students from abroad who then are leaving for their native countries. The author advances a proposal that the artistic schools increase the admission rate for those willing to study the a rt of conservation. This, however, is connected with serious troubles, as, for example, the Copernicus University, Toruń has no more free p la ces available for students in laboratories and exercise rooms. Such possibilities exist, however, at the High Schools of Arts in Cracow and in Warsaw. No less important seems tp be the question of extending the range in some fields of specialization (e.g. the conservation of paper) and also th a t of in tro ducing of some new as, for instance, the conservation of metals, fabrics, ethnographic pieces, glass and s.o. The introduction of specialization in the field of conservation of the stone sculpture which has r e cently been included in curricula gives every reason to hope that about 1975 the situation in this respect will Improve to some extent. T h e fact alone shows, however, that it requires a long time to see results of decisions adopted. Thus, the author proposes to ventilate in detail the whole problem, to draw serious conclusions and to take a number of long-range decisions if the tasks coming with the next years are to be fulfilled properly. The recent decision concerning the reconstruction of totally demolished Royal Castle in Warsaw will cause the need to* organize in the next 2—3 years a large atelier where the preserved elements of its fittings will undergo conservation treatments and in turn to sta rt the necessary reconstructional works in some of its interiors. This task, no doubt, will considerably increase the demand for a trained staff.