page_title: Detachment of wall paintings
section_title: Techniques
hierarchical_section_title: Detachment of wall paintings / Techniques
caption_attribution_description: photography of a Banksy graffiti at the Israeli West Bank barrier in Bethlehem
context_page_description: The detachment of wall paintings involves the removal of a wall painting from the structure of which it formed part. Once a common practice, with the move towards preservation in situ, detachment is now largely restricted to cases where the only alternative is total loss. According to the International Council on Monuments and Sites, "detachment and transfer are dangerous, drastic and irreversible operations that severely affect the physical composition, material structure and aesthetic characteristics of wall paintings. These operations are, therefore, only justifiable in extreme cases when all options of in situ treatment are not viable."
context_section_description: There are three main methods, typically referred to by their Italian terms, namely stacco a massello, involving detachment and removal of painting, render, and some or all of the mural support; stacco or detachment of the painting with render alone; and strappo, lit. "tearing", lifting of only the paint layer, attached to a facing with adhesive. In each case the resulting material must be applied to a new support.
caption: Mural by Banksy on the West Bank barrier (2005);[13] a wall painting's meaning is intimately related to its immediate physical setting[14][15]
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