Contribution at STONE 2025 Paris

The International Congress on the Deterioration and Conservation of Stone is a quadrennial event that brings together the world-wide community of researchers, managers and practitioners concerned with the conservation of cultural stone structures and objects.

This time the organizers and partner strongly encourage linking scientific achievement to practice. The congress will take place September 8-12 2025 at Campus des Cordeliers, 15-21 Rue de l'École de Médecine, 75006 Paris. To make it easier for people from low-income countries to participate, the participation fees were staggered.

As an introduction for those interested, there will be a Summer School in a nearby recreation area from Friday 5 September to 8 September.

We look forward presenting our work, a constructive exchange and many exciting contributions, an exchange of ideas and further development for the conservation of built heritage.

Abstract

The ancient rock city of Petra, which lies south of the Dead Sea in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, displays with its unusual sandstone architecture abundant evidence of the Nabatean culture. Petra has gained international recognition for the around 600 hundred rock facades carved out of the sandstone bedrock. Today, this unique monumental rock architecture is in danger due to the action of flash-floods, deterioration, poor maintenance and the lack of conservation. In collaboration with CARCIP (Conservation and Restoration Center in Petra) since the 1990s, onsite fieldwork and research has led to new findings on the process of weathering of the sandstone by the interaction of uncontrolled flowing rainwater and salt deposition. Until now, however, erosion and abrasive effects of wind and water were considered the main causes of deterioration, while salt weathering was greatly underestimated. Overly complex explanatory models led to a certain helplessness regarding the situation on site, which in turn undermined practical protective measures. This study is focused on evaluating of the weathering processes, attempts to revise misunderstandings and develop a perspective for a fundamental conservation strategy.