Abstract:
Recommendations on the intervention plans, materials, and techniques for the
conservation and restoration of built heritage should be based on sound knowledge of
both heritage and its constituent materials conservation condition. Accordingly, data on
built heritage and building materials and their history is essential for improving
knowledge on ancient materials and techniques, for materials performance modelling
benchmarking and related development, and for further supporting the decision-making
process for the conservation/restoration works.
Nevertheless, of the latest developments and increased awareness, basic information on
physical, chemical, and mechanical characterisation of construction materials is not
always accessible or findable. To prevent these shortcomings, DB-HERITAGE system
(http://dbheritage.lnec.pt/) provides physical and digital repositories for archiving data
on the history, properties and performance of architectural and archeologic heritage and
related building materials.
This paper displays examples of samples and the related data from historic building
materials, including wrought iron, protection coating and mortars, archived at DBHERITAGE,
highlighting their scientific, educational, and historical values.