conservation lab
120 Years Later, Harvard's Garden of Glass Flowers Is Still in Bloom
Harvard's famed collection of Glass Flowers counts over 4,000 models—and one conservator is making sure their timeless beauty endures for another century to come.
10th Century Viking Treasures Unearthed In Scotland
Now comes the hard part: preserving 1,000-year-old gold and silver artifacts for centuries to come.
The Quest to Recreate the World’s First Noise Orchestra | Conservation Lab
The story of one man’s adventure to rebuild the experimental orchestra conceived by Luigi Russolo, the 20th century’s first noise musician.
How Experts Finally Reconstructed the "Eighth Wonder of the World"
The Amber Room, a jewel worth hundreds of millions, vanished during World War II. Russia would spend two decades recreating it.
How to Rescue Fashion Before It Self-Destructs | Conservation Lab
Style may be eternal, but your synthetic clothing? Not so much.
Magnified Views of Metal Look Like Mesmerizing Micro-Landscapes
Look closely: The story of an object’s making is hidden in plain sight.
What to Do When Priceless Art Meets Hungry Insects | Conservation Lab
Before entering the Menil Collection in Houston, an installation of wood and soil gets quarantined in an oven and a zero-oxygen chamber.
Crack a Window into the Art of Glass Preservation | Conservation Lab
The tiny city of Corning, New York is home to the world’s best glass conservators.
3 Fantastical Surprises Concealed Inside Historical Objects | Conservation Lab
As conservators pick an object apart, what lies inside can be another gem all its own.
When an Unplayable Record Preserves a Long-Lost Language | Conservation Lab
A chance discovery in an anthropologist’s archives uncovered native voices from a remote Alaskan island. Here's what happened next.
Mummy X-Rays Reconstruct Ancient Egyptian Lives | Conservation Lab
Medical imaging slices through mummies while leaving them unperturbed.
6 Mesmerizing Videos of Museum Practitioners at Work | Conservation Lab
Watch conservators restore a vandalized Rothko, submerge a Dickens manuscript in water, and preserve Lonesome George—the iconic Galapagos tortoise—for generations to come.