Historical climate of the historic church of St. George at Ostropa

¹ Polish National Committee of International Council on Monuments and Sites ICOMOS
² Silesian University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Akademicka 5, Gliwice, Poland

^* Corresponding author: michal.marchacz@polsl.pl

Abstract

The paper presents investigation studies on the historic climate of the interior of St. George’s Church at Ostropa. The church lies on the Wooden Architecture Trail of the Silesian Province within the Gliwice Loop. The building consists of a brick part (presbytery and sacristy) and a wooden part (nave, porch and tower). The shape and size of the church were formed at the end of the 17th century. Most of the decor and furnishings come from that period. Since 2008, the church has been subjected to a wide range of renovation and conservation works. The manager of the object and the conservation office have been entrusted to give special care to the polychromes in the wooden nave, brick presbytery and the main altar. Wooden elements belong to a group of organic hygroscopic materials. They are exposed to the risk of internal damage due to changes in temperature and humidity. The reduction of damage risk involves limiting the scope and dynamics of temperature or humidity changes as compared to the so-called historic climate. The parameters of the historical climate of the object were determined based on the measurement of temperature and humidity inside the investigated object.