The Diocesan Museum of Pordenone is home to a workshop specialising in the restoration of antique textiles, directed by Simonetta Giacomini. It is a unique facility of its kind in the region, established with a specific purpose: the maintenance and restoration of liturgical vestments held in the museum’s collections and in churches within the diocese.
Liturgical vestments are a type of artefact of extraordinary complexity. The variety of materials used — silks, velvets, metallic threads, gold and silver embroidery — and the delicacy of the techniques involved require highly specialised skills, which the workshop has developed and refined over the years.
Over time, the workshop’s activities have gradually expanded to include commissions from outside the museum and objects outside the sacred sphere. Today, the workshop undertakes restoration work on a very wide range of textile artefacts: historical costumes, carpets, uniforms, drapes, tapestries and flags, thus demonstrating the versatility and methodological rigour acquired by the team.
Every restoration project is preceded by a thorough study and assessment of the artefact, aimed at identifying the original materials, the techniques used and the causes of deterioration. It is only on the basis of this analysis that the restoration plan is drawn up, in accordance with the key principles of conservation, namely reversibility and minimal intervention.
Today, the workshop is not only a centre dedicated to safeguarding the diocese’s textile heritage, but also a recognised centre of expertise, capable of meeting the conservation needs of public bodies, cultural institutions and private individuals.
