KUR

Saving Worthwhile Objects

What magnificent clothes the Salian emperors and kings must have worn! As a result of the grave excavations in 1900, clothing remnants in wool, silk, linen and gold brocade were salvaged. Thanks to the hundreds of years they spent in damp graves and the inadequate restoration  and conservation techniques of earlier generations, these very sensitive clothing remnants have suffered serious damage. Today they remain only as fragments and exceptionally fragile ones at that.

Belt of Philipps von Schwaben, detail

Today, these textiles and the photographs of the graves in which they were found are being restored and preserved by the Historical Museum of the Palatinate, using the newest, innovative techniques. The successful completion of this project will make it possible for the museum to integrate a larger selection of these organic discoveries into the exhibition and thereby give the museum visitor a more  complete overview of the kings’ and emperors’ graves and their excavation in 1900.

Results of the KUR Project

The work that has been carried out and its results will be published upon completion in a monograph in which all of the participating scholars will present their findings. Furthermore, we anticipate that all of the important research findings will be made accessible online. This project is being supported by the Federal Cultural Foundation in cooperation with the Cultural Foundation of the German States. The so-called KUR Program (KUR stands for the first letter of the German words for Conservation And Restoration) has as its goal the preservation of acutely threatened objects and collectibles of inordinate historic and artistic relevance.