Context 168 - June 2021

C O N T E X T 1 6 8 : J U N E 2 0 2 1 9 and Gareth Sandham, looks at the structural investigation of the grand staircase at Powis Castle, built in the 1660s, and the associated wall paintings. A succinct summary of the construction history leads on to a discussion about the impact of rising visitor numbers and the studies to investigate whether movement of the staircase was being transmitted to the wall, contributing to loosening of the plaster and deterioration of the wall paintings. The analysis of the structure of the stair and the feasibility of strengthening are explained. The study concluded that the lower flight was stable but some technically challenging strengthening by stiffening would be needed before visitors could access the upper flight. Remediation works would not damage the painted plaster below the stairs. The risk of damage to the wall paintings from cyclical loads and vibrations transmitted from visitors traversing the stairs was lower than past reports had intimated. The three other papers are more museological. A paper by Jerry Ponany on earthquake mitigation for museum collections explains the basic concepts and approaches. Donald Rudenko, Mohamad Sharif and BrianWarner set out a blueprint for managing construction risk at museums, with the modernisation of infrastructure at the Philadelphia Museum of Art as a case study. And, as a distinct departure from architectural heritage technology, Arne Johnson, Mohamed El-Batanouny and William Simpson examine how to protect from vibration damage the world’s most complete Tyrannosaurus rex specimen (called SUE) on exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago. The Historic Environment The Historic Environment: policy and practice (Vol 11, No 4, 2020) is a festschrift dedicated to the memory of Henry Cleere, who died in 2018 at the age of 91. He was the director of the Council for British Archaeology from 1974 to 1991 andWorld Heritage Co-ordinator for ICOMOS from 1992 to 2002. A number of short contributions from friends and colleagues celebrate his work and achievements. The issue also highlights his role in the creation of the Institute of Field Archaeologists in 1982 and the European Archaeological Association in 1994. The formation of the more inclusive Chartered Institute for Archaeologists was instrumental in the launch of the journal that carries these tributes. One contribution of particular note is that by Malcolm Cooper entitled ‘Studying Systems: comparative approaches to heritage management’, citing Cleere’s encouragement of comparative heritage management. This came in the wake of the fervent activity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the lawyer and native Scot David Murray, and the art historian Englishman Gerard Baldwin Brown. Their concerns for what they saw as the disappearing heritage of Edinburgh prompted insightful perspectives of established international practice, but with a foresightedness and distillation of what would eventually become adopted heritage law and practice in the UK. How ironic that the early stages of English heritage protection reform in the early 2000s proposed a review of international comparators, which was promptly abandoned because the DCMS felt that it had nothing new to learn. The author makes a persuasive case that it was due to Baldwin Brown’s persistent and persuasive advocacy for the protection of occupied buildings by planning legislation, through the RIBA Journal and elsewhere, that this was enshrined in planning not ancient monuments legislation after 1945. Cooper’s paper is most perceptive and interesting, especially regarding Baldwin Brown’s under-regarded and informative book of 1905. The Victorian TheVictorian (No 66, March 2021) examines the architecture of art education, and the significance of Victorian and Edwardian art college design, particularly following on from the criteria set by the government’s science and art department in 1859. Some of these new buildings, such as the huge Birmingham Art School by JH Chamberlain andW Martin of 1884–5, display a striking grandeur. The ambition and resultant scale often depended on local benefaction. This issue also looks at the latter stages of the development of the impressive studio-houses built during the late Victorian art-boom, and the extraordinary experiments spawning free public art museums as a means of accessible and unstinting self-improvement. Bob Kindred MBE