Systematic analysis of various sites allows for comparative studies to be made. Their combined efforts meet an interest shared by all countries eager to safeguard their cultural heritage. For over a decade, the European Commission has lent its support to the largest international programme on research into environmental damage to cultural heritage. Some 180 partners have been involved in multidisciplinary projects throughout Europe - and extending well beyond the Member States, as Norway, Switzerland and central European countries have also participated. The effects of pollution on historic buildings were studied in ten projects.
Architecture is the most symbolic and most visible facet of cultural heritage.
The priority was to focus on analysing the material soundness of stone, largo sensu , that is to say, marble, limestone and granite, and its interface with the environment. These materials have deteriorated at an alarming rate this past century due to air pollution. Most of the treatments previously applied proved ineffective because of insufficient knowledge of the causes and mechanisms that should have been addressed. During this first phase, research teams investigated and compared the effect of pollutants on different historic buildings across the EU - for example, how the marble of the Parthenon reacted to nitric acid and nitrates. Chemical micro-analysis techniques and ultrasound technology were developed to investigate these vulnerable materials.