FUNGAL MONITORING IN AN EXHIBITION ROOM WITH EGYPTIAN MUMMIES IN THE MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF LA PLATA, ARGENTINA

NITIU, DANIELA S.; MALLO, ANDREA C.; ELÍADES, LORENA A.; GARCÍA SANTA CRUZ, MAURO; SAPARRAT, MARIO CARLOS NAZARENO

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSERVATION SCIENCE

Romanian Inventors Forum (Forumul Inventatorilor Romani)

Año: 2019

2067-533X

The cultural properties kept in museums are exposed to different factors that may affect theintegrity. The aims of the present study were i) to determine the environmental fungal loadpresent both inside and outside the Egyptian Room of the Museum of Natural Sciences of LaPlata, Argentina, as well as inside two showcases where Egyptian sarcophagi are preserved,along a one-year monitoring, and ii) to evaluate the possible impact of temperature andrelative humidity on the preservation of these mummies. The fungal load was determined bymeans of a volumetric air sampling methodology and the environmental variables by means ofspecific instruments. The fungal load found in the four sites studied was of 32843,23 CFU/m3,belonging to 21 fungal taxa, mainly to the phylum Ascomycota. The most representative wereBeauveria bassiana, Fusarium oxysporum, Penicillium sp. and Rhodotorula sp. (as a yeastrepresentative), were common to the four sites, showing a significant similarity between theoutdoor and indoor environments. The temperature of the exhibition room and that of the twoshowcases were either similar or lower than the values recommended by the UNI 10829:1999standards. In contrast, throughout the year, the relative humidity recorded was higher than therecommended values.