Frame Conservation and Gilding Studio

The workshop specialises in the conservation of historic picture frames from all branches of the National Museum in Kraków.

Its team looks after objects made of wood, covered with gold and silver leaf, metal and gilded bronze. It carries out woodcarving work involving the carving of missing ornaments, plaster and frame-making compound casts, as well as new frames based on old designs and techniques. In addition to this work, the workshop’s remit includes the conservation of decorative arts objects – clocks, gilded furniture and candlesticks.

The conservation of gilded wooden objects is a multi-stage process involving the impregnation of the wood (to protect the structure damaged by wood-boring insects), repairing the frame structure, protecting the preserved original gilded sections, chemical and mechanical cleaning, replacing missing elements with suitable materials (wood, frame filler, stucco), as well as carrying out gilding and silvering using various techniques.

The workshop has restored historic frames and produced new ones, including:

• at the Gallery of 20th-Century Polish Art in the MNK Main Building (2005)
• at Bishop MNK Erazm Ciołek’s Palace (2007)
• at the Gallery of 19th-Century Polish Art in MNK Sukiennice (2010)
• at the EUROPEUM Centre for European Culture (2013)
• at the Karol Szymanowski Museum in the ‘Atma’ villa in Zakopane (2013)

Team

• Stanisław Grzegorz Tańcula – workshop manager
• Beata Feluś – senior restorer
• Małgorzata Ptasińska – assistant