Giorgio Torraca

Giorgio Torraca (born September 11, 1927 in Padua , † September 25, 2010 in Rome ) was an Italian chemist and restorer .

Life

Giorgio Torraca's father was the journalist and longtime impresario of the Teatro Eliseo in Rome, Vincenzo Torraca. His mother was president of the Italian women's association. Giorgio Torraca graduated from La Sapienza University in Rome with a degree in chemistry in 1950 and then took a master's degree at the Case Institute of Technology , now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland , Ohio , from which he graduated in 1953.

He then worked at the engineering faculty at La Sapienza University and became a consultant at the renowned Instituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome. Research and knowledge of architectural conservation were concentrated there. Among other things, the art historian and critic Cesare Brandi and Paolo and Laura Mora , both renowned curators of wall painting, worked there . During those years Torraca established intensive scientific contacts with the British Museum in London.

After a short interlude in the laboratories of a company in the electronics industry, Torraca took over the Chair of Technology and Materials Science at the La Sapienza University. During the Arno flood in Florence in 1966, he was consulted as coordinator for international aid. From 1969 he also taught at the School of Restoration Specialists at La Sapienza University and until 2000 he was Deputy Director of the interdisciplinary research center for Conservation Centro di Ricerca in Scienza e Tecnica per la Conservazione ( Cistec ). From 1971 to 1986 he was also Vice President of the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restauration of Cultural Property ( ICCROM ).

During his frequent visits to Great Britain, Torraca supported the archaeological work at the Elizabethan theater The Rose in London as a consultant until the 1990s . In 1992 he was a consultant in the cleaning of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. From 2004 to 2009 he was a member of the Committee for the Stabilization of the Leaning Tower of Pisa . Until he became fatally ill, he also advised the Getty Conservation Institute (CGI) in Los Angeles on the conservation of fragile historical frescoes .

Giorgio Torraca died of pneumonia .

Publications and teaching

Through his publications, which have been translated into many languages, Giorgio Torraca helped to gain a deeper understanding of the physical and chemical processes that underlie the decay of historical monuments, as well as the basic methods of counteracting them. He placed great emphasis on clarity and simplicity of presentation. He advocated the cooperation of scientists from different disciplines, advocated the involvement of natural and engineering scientists in conservation and restoration, but in this context it was important to clearly explain the limits of technical methods.

His well-known works include:

• Solubility and Solvents for Conservation Methods . ICCROM, Rome 1975.
• Porous Building Materials . ICCROM, Rome 1981
  German edition: Porous building materials . The apple, Vienna 1986.

Honors

Torraca has received a number of honors including the 1986 Forbes Prize from the London International Institute of Conservation and the 1990 ICCROM Award .

literature

• John Fidler: Giorgio Torraca. In: The Guardian , October 21, 2010, p. 29

Web links

• Literature by and about Giorgio Torraca in the catalog of the German National Library
• Jukka Jokilehto: Obituary at the ICCROM