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In Spring 2011 Professor Lorenzo Casamenti will guide a cohort of LdM Restoration and Conservation students to Easter Island to restore the Mohai -- the most extraordinary colossal sculptures in the entire Pacific region. The Chilean authorities asked Casamenti to train professional conservators in Chile in order to restore the Mohai, which are being damaged by lichen. Casamenti analyzed the lichen in Italy and discovered how to resolve a problem that had puzzled all other specialists.
Lorenzo Casamenti, head of LdM's Department of Restoration, enjoys worldwide renown both for his great expertise in the field and his ability to provide care for endangered monuments. At LdM he teaches a range of semester courses for both beginning and advanced students, including Fresco and Mural Painting Restoration, and Painting and Polychrome Wooden Sculpture Restoration. His summer conservation Workshops bring LdM students to specially selected monuments in the Chianti or Calabria regions of Italy. International students of Restoration may pursue a number of options at LdM. Students are able to earn a four-year U.S. Bachelor's Degree in Conservation Studies and Restoration offered in partnership with Marist College, with courses taught at the LdM Florence campus. Also, they may earn a one-year LdM Certificate or a two-year LdM Professional Certificate in Restoration and Conservation.
Over the years Casamenti has created a tradition, working closely with students, many of whom are now colleagues.
Part of this includes involving LdM students directly in high-profile restoration projects.
Last year Professor Casamenti supervised weeks of intense work by LdM students restoring frescoes in the cathedral of New Delhi. This experience provided students real-world training at a prestigious site, and in a new continent.
His latest challenge is to rescue the Mohai, carved of tufa blocks weighing up to 50 tons each, from erosion. Casamenti, already noted in Chile for his heritage preservation efforts, has already supplied a truly global (and Italian) basis for a response by providing training sessions in Florence for Easter Island conservators. |
