In Brno, a restoration center will be established for 232 million

Brno - The Technical Museum in Brno will gain modern repositories, workshops, and laboratories for the restoration of rare objects. The conservation center will be established in the former barracks in Brno-Řečkovice. The costs will reach 232 million crowns, of which 228 million crowns will be covered by a European grant, and four million from the museum's resources. The remaining part will be financed by the Ministry of Culture. The project at the museum was initiated today; the new center is expected to be completed in 2013, said Martin Mrázek from the museum to ČTK today.
     The museum will be a conservation center for the entire country, restoring rare objects listed in the central registry of collections from across the Czech Republic, including items from private collections. According to Mrázek, the museum is already partially doing this work today, but in inadequate and cramped spaces. Once the new facility is equipped and put into operation, around 20 specialists will work there. Currently, about half of them are performing the same work at the museum.
    The grant will cover both the necessary construction modifications and the purchase of technology. Modern restoration cannot do without it; therefore, the new center will procure, for example, an environmental microscope. The name signifies that the device can be used in a standard environment and there is no need to place the collection item in a special material during examination. It could damage it.
    According to the Ministry of Culture, the center will enhance the education of university students in the field. It will also provide a support base for research.