Environmental parameters in museums

During the last decade, the environmental conditions of the museum exhibition facilities and storage areas have been shown to be the most crucial factor, concerning the preservation of collections and artifacts. The pollution (chemicals and noise), the humidity, the temperature and the lighting can possibly deteriorate or even destroy the material cultural goods that are kept, protected and displayed in museum collections. Therefore, the aim of the present report is to define the threats that museum collections may suffer under inappropriate environmental conditions where they are housed. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.