This article aims to excite the reader’s interest in a new sector, to support the new technologies and to persuade the research sponsors that the financing of research programs on digital technology in restoration is worthwhile.
The contribution of Computer Science to the field of Restoration and Archaeology has so far been confined, with few exceptions, to data bases for the best possible filing of projects and finds. The undeniable necessity for data bases in Restoration and Archaeology also found its justification by a post-graduate Computer program on recording and documentation of antiquities and works of art, introduced last year into the Computer Science Department of the University of Crete. In certain cases, however, the extension of the use of computers, apart from the data bases, in Restoration and Antiquities is remarkable.
In the two-dimentionai space, the work of Nicholas Frayltng of the Royal College of Art is a typical example of the usefulness of computers: the restoration of works of painting, like the miniatures, that are in fact impossible to be restored, was realized with the help of digital processing. Moreover, the achievements of Balas and Fotakis, concerning the digital system of inspecting paintings and cleaning paintings with laser beam, is well known.
Needless to say, that the potentialities this technology offers are greater than these we take advantage of today.
