Culture and Contemporaneity
ISSN 2226-0285
UDC 792:7.5:005:304.4
Article Volume 28, No. 1, 2026

Restoration of monuments of monumental art: the significance of the preparatory stage and technological research (the case of the sculpture “Christ of Boremel Bearing the Cross” in the village of Boremel)

Mariya Markovych, Roman Vilhushynskyi, Nataliia Datsiuk*, Mykhailo Netrybiak, Olha Budzyk

nat.datsyuk@gmail.com

Received 18.02.2026 Revised 14.05.2026 Accepted 22.06.2026 Published 29.06.2026 Pages 48–57 19 Views

Abstract

The article substantiates the decisive role of the preparatory stage and technological research in the restoration of stone monuments of monumental art. The relevance of the topic is determined by the widespread practice of unprofessional “renewals” that, over the course of the twentieth century, disfigured hundreds of sacred objects across Volyn and the whole of Ukraine, together with the need for a scholarly reassessment of intervention methodology amid the intensification of international heritage-preservation programmes. The aim of the work was to determine how a complex of historical-archival, on-site and laboratory studies shapes a scientifically grounded and reversible conservation programme. The methods used were historical-source analysis, comparative study of the specialist literature, systematisation of on-site survey data, and generalisation of empirical material from restoration-work documentation. The empirical basis was the 1786 sculpture “Christ of Boremel Bearing the Cross”, restored during the first stage of works in 2023 within the framework of a project of the Polish Institute POLONIKA. It was established that pre-restoration diagnostics made it possible to identify authentic limestone overlaid with cement plaster and limewash coating, to identify corroded metal reinforcement from secondary reconstructions, and to record the remains of the original polychromy. It is demonstrated that the removal of hard cement layers is not a cosmetic but a structurally necessitated operation, since cement is a source of soluble salts and condensation moisture that accelerate the deterioration of carbonate stone. The expediency of structurally consolidating the limestone with silicon-organic preparations and of disinfecting it with biocides is substantiated. The practical value lies in the formulation of a generalised algorithm for the preparatory stage, suitable for application to a broad range of stone monuments of monumental art

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Keywords

stone sculpture; technologies; materials; conservation; restoration; cultural heritage

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Markovych, M., Vilhushynskyi, R., Datsiuk, N., Netrybiak, M., & Budzyk, O. (2026). Restoration of monuments of monumental art: the significance of the preparatory stage and technological research (the case of the sculpture “Christ of Boremel Bearing the Cross” in the village of Boremel). Culture and Contemporaneity, 28(1), 48-57. https://doi.org/10.63009/cac/1.2026.48

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