Conservation of the Khevenhüller Chronicle

A cooperation between the MAK Vienna and Castle Hochosterwitz.
Project team: Beate Murr, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel
The Khevenhüller Chronicle was commissioned by Count Franz Christoph von Khevenhüller around 1620 as a family chronicle of the family of which proof has existed in Carinthia since the mid-14th century. It was authored by Georgius Moshamer. Composed of roughly 770 pages, 19 single-page and 28 double-page gouache colored plates depict members of the Khevenhüller family with their possessions in the background. In 1937, the work entered into the MAK’s Collection from Albert Figdor’s Collection.
 
In order to make the individual leaves of the chronicle available to a wider audience as well as science, they will now be digitalized and the texts will be transcribed. Beforehand, every single leaf will need to be conserved which includes cleaning all leaves and treating different kinds of damage like tears, missing parts, loss of color and fiber, as well as ink and copper corrosion. In addition, the book was taken apart in the 1970s for research purposes, the binding removed, and the book deconstructed into individual leaves and quires. 
 
In this multi-year research project, the MAK together with the Institute for Conservation-Restoration at the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien (IKR) will develop a concept for studying, conserving, and digitalizing the chronicles. Only a concept designed in a holistic and interdisciplinary way will do the cultural and historical value of the Khevenhüller Chronicle justice. In addition to providing the opportunity of applying the latest state of research and accessing natural scientific analytical methods, the collaboration with the IKR also makes it possible to turn the Khevenhüller Chronicles into the topic of a diploma thesis. 
 
A cooperation between the MAK Vienna and Castle Hochosterwitz.
 
Project team: Beate Murr, Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel