Parchment making

A transdisciplinary research project dedicated to parchment studies has been created at the University of Namur. This “Pergamenum21” project brings together physicists, chemists, biologists, historians and curators. The team collaborates with other research groups abroad involved in the science of cultural heritage. The idea for the project arose out of a request from Catherine Charles, conservator at the Moretus Plantin University Library, for the restoration of rare parchment bindings. This request was relayed by Olivier Deparis, physics professor at UNamur. There is indeed a growing interest in scientific methods capable of precisely identifying the animal species from which the parchments were made. The reliable and systematic identification of parchment animal species has therefore become key information for medievalists. Following a conference organized in 2019 entitled “the physics of parchments“, many participants expressed the desire to be able to set up a workshop for making parchments from skins (in this case goat and sheep skins. ) An internship was therefore organized in September 2020 and the members of UNamur were once again part of it, gathered around the disciplines and techniques involved: bio-archeology, history, conservation, analytical methods, optical physics and restoration, illustrating the importance of synergies between the different approaches. This course was designed and delivered by Jiri Vnoucek (restorer of parchment, paper and bindings at the Royal Library in Copenhagen). Each participant therefore produced his parchment by following all the stages of production: waxing, placing on a frame and stretching, scraping, sanding, cutting. For more information : Beats To Craft (B2C) Pergamenum21 Neptun: digital heritage of the Moretus Plantin University Library (UNamur) The Archaeological Society of Namur (SAN):