Wax Moulages

The KUR Programme for the restoration and conservation of mobile cultural heritage was initiated jointly by the Bundeskulturstiftung (German Federal Cultural Foundation) and the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the Federal States) in 2007. Using a much diversified selection of conservation projects as examples, the programme aims to raise the awareness of the public and those responsible regarding the dramatic state of many collections throughout Germany.

The KUR project Wax Moulages: Precious Craftsmanship in Danger of Extinction is concerned with the around 2,000 moulages at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden, one of the world's largest collections of life-like reproductions of diseases and injuries in wax (so-called moulages). Some of the pieces in the Dresden collection are showing various types of damage, and their mechanisms are being investigated, including the wax itself. The Doerner Institut is carrying out the scientific analyses of the wax compounds used for these artworks and investigating the various types of damage.