A restorer at work.

Conservation (also referred to as "conservation and restoration") focuses on the protection and care of tangible cultural heritage, including artwork, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include examination, documentation, treatment, and collections care, otherwise known as preventive conservation.

Interventive conservation refers to any act by a conservator that involves a direct interaction between the conservator and the cultural material. These interventive treatments could involve cleaning, stabilizing, repair, or even replacement of parts of the original object. It is essential that the conservator should fully justify any such work. 

Conservation of cultural heritage applies simple ethical guidelines:

• Minimal intervention;
• Appropriate materials and reversible methods;
• Full documentation of all work undertaken.

 

The Lunder Conservation Center. Conservation staff for both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are visible to the public through floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow visitors to see firsthand all the techniques that conservators use to examine, treat and preserve artworks within a functioning conservation Laboratory.

Conservators routinely use chemical and scientific analysis for the examination and treatment of cultural works. The modern conservation laboratory uses equipment such as microscopes, spectrometers, and various x-ray regime instruments to better understand objects and their components. The data thus collected helps in deciding the conservation treatments to be provided to the object.