Since the very beginning of conservation and restoration concepts and practice, different branches of Chemistry for Cultural heritage, such as physical, analytical, organic, inorganic, and environmental chemistry, have been playing a pivotal role in diagnosis, understanding causes and state of conservation, studying ancient production techniques, developing and evaluating restoration materials and methods, guiding conservators in the planning and execution of conservation-restoration interventions of both movable and immovable cultural heritage as well as in the education and training of conservation professionals.
The last decades have seen the introduction of new and advanced chemical technologies applied to the different fields mentioned above, which have marked a substantial improvement in the capability of the Chemistry discipline to answer specific conservation-restoration needs raised by the cultural heritage preservation international community.

The 7th International Congress on Chemistry for Cultural Heritage, organized by the Slovak University of Technology, Slovak National Museum in collaboration with the Slovak Chemical Society (SCHS) and its Division of Chemistry in Cultural Heritage, under the patronage of Slovak Commission for UNESCO is aimed at providing an international platform for presentation and discussion on all the above-mentioned issues.

A 7 th CrysAC workshop on “Provenance Studies in Art and Cultural Heritage” will be held as part of the accompanying events within the conference. It will take place at Slovak National Gallery, Riečna 1, 815 13 Bratislava on July 1, 2024. There is no fee for participants but because of limited capacity the registration is required. Please register by e-mail to the organizer Dr. Silvie Svarcova (svarcova@iic.cas.cz).
In keeping with the terms of reference of the Commission, the CrysAC workshop on “Provenance Studies in Art and Cultural Heritage” is within the series of one-day workshops organized by the IUCr Commission on Crystallography in Art and Cultural Heritage, aimed to stimulate knowledge exchange between crystallographers, researchers and other experts interested in Cultural Heritage investigations. Different communities are invited to present reviews of established research, recent results, and envisaged trends in key areas of Archaeometry and Conservation Science. The present workshop, organized as a satellite meeting of the 7 th International Congress Chemistry for Cultural Heritage (CHemCH 2024, Bratislava, Slovakia), will invite scientists from research institutions, museums, and conservation bodies,  to illustrate state-of-the-art studies focusing on determining the origin of materials (manufacturing method or natural sources) and provenance of art objects (whether in the sense of regional, workshop, or period) using methods of advanced materials analysis. Although only invited contributions are planned, all interested people are invited to exchange ideas and discuss the presented topics.

• March 10, 2024  Oral/poster abstract submission deadline
• March 31, 2024  Notification of acceptance for oral presentation/poster
• May 15, 2024 Payment deadline for presenters
• May 31, 2024 Publication of the Final Program
• June 15, 2024 Deadline for registration
• July 2–5, 2024 CHEMCH 2024 Conference

The main topics of the congress will be:
• Development and improvements of analytical methods (non-invasive/micro-invasive, (mass)spectroscopy, chemical imaging, separation methods,…) considering also safety aspects
• Multispectral and hyperspectral methods in heritage science
• Chemical processes causing changes and degradation of cultural heritage artifacts
• Chemical aspects of biological alteration phenomena
• Environmental chemistry aspects in heritage conservation
• Nanotechnologies, green/sustainable materials, and methods for conservation and restoration.
• Data treatment, chemometrics, machine learning/artificial intelligence for cultural heritage investigations
• Cross-disciplinary visions for heritage science, conservation and restoration
• Multimodal investigations and case studies

The 7th International Congress on Chemistry for Cultural Heritage, organized by the Slovak University of Technology, Slovak National Museum in collaboration with the Slovak Chemical Society (SCHS) and its Division of Chemistry in Cultural Heritage, under the patronage of Slovak Commission for UNESCO

Congress Chair
Radko TINO, Slovak University of Technology, Slovakia

International Scientific Committee
Elena BADEA, University of Craiova, Romania
Maite MAGUREGUI, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain
Matija STRLIC, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Barbara LYDZBA-KOPCZYNSKA, University of Wroclaw, Poland
Rocco MAZZEO, University of Bologna, Italy
Meric BAKILER, Mimar Sinan Fine Art University, Istanbul, Turkey
Lucia BURGIO, Victoria & Albert Museum, UK
Anna VILA ESPUNA, “la Caixa” Foundation, Spain
Oliver HAHN, Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und prüfung, Germany
Daniela IACOPINO, Tyndall National Institute, Ireland
Koen JANSSENS, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Edith JOSEPH, Haute Ecole Arc Conservation Restauration, University of Applied Sciences
and Arts Western Switzerland, Switzerland
Katrien KEUNE, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Netherland
Hartmut KUTZKE, Norwegian Chemical Society
Jasna MALEŠIC, National and University Library, Slovenia
Maria João MELO, NOVA School of Science and Technology, Portugal
Silvia PRATI, University of Bologna, Italy
Milena REHÁKOVÁ, Slovak University of Technology, Slovakia
Katarína VIZÁROVÁ, Slovak University of Technology, Slovakia
Jana SANYOVÁ, Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique (IRPA), Belgium
Tomasz SAWOSZCZUK, Cracow University of Economics, Poland
Domagoj SATOVIC, Academy of Fine Arts, Croatia
Kaj THURESSON, Sweedish National Heritage Board, Sweden
Ljiljana DAMJANOVIC-VASILIC, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Dubravka JEMBRIH-SIMBÜRGER, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria

Organizing Committee
Radko TIŇO, Slovak University of Technology
Milena REHÁKOVÁ, Slovak University of Technology
Katarína VIZÁROVÁ, Slovak University of Technology
Peter BARTA, Slovak National Museum
Nina LALÍKOVÁ, Slovak National Museum
Eduard BELUŠÁK, Slovak National Museum
Katarína KUČÍKOVÁ, Slovak University of Technology
Izabela LUKAČOVIČ VAJOVÁ, Slovak University of Technology
Ida SKOTNICOVÁ, Slovak University of Technology
Soňa MALEČKOVÁ, Slovak University of Technology