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Art & Art History vocabulary · Museums & Galleries

Restoration

Meaning in art & art history, with examples

/ˌrestəˈreɪʃən/nounCommon term

In art & art history, restoration means: Work done to repair a damaged or decayed artwork or building and bring it closer to its original appearance, for example by cleaning it or filling in missing areas.

In Turkish: restorasyon, onarım

How it is used

Restorers carry out restoration; works can be under restoration or a building closed for restoration. Many museums now prefer the word conservation, which focuses on keeping a work stable. Over-restoration or a bad restoration can harm a work.

Example sentences

  1. The mosque's tiles are under restoration and will be visible again next year.

  2. The restoration of the Sistine Chapel frescoes in the 1980s and 1990s revealed much brighter colours.

Common collocations

  • under restoration
  • closed for restoration
  • restoration work
  • careful restoration
  • restoration project
  • conservationThe professional care of artworks and objects to slow down damage and keep them stable for the future, through scientific study, careful treatment and control of light, humidity and temperature.
  • frescoA way of painting walls or ceilings with water-based pigments on fresh, wet lime plaster, so the colours become part of the wall as it dries; also a painting made like this.
  • pigmentA coloured powder, made from minerals, plants, insects or chemicals, that gives paint its colour when it is mixed with a binder such as oil, egg or gum.
  • provenanceThe documented history of who has owned an artwork since it was made, used to show that it is genuine and was acquired legally.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Museums & Galleries

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