The quality of the indoor microclimate in museums is a problem of great interest to the contemporary society, given that it is in close connection with the health and comfort of visitors and employees, as well as with the integrity of the exhibits. Taking into account the fact that museums are places that have a special role in the community’s life and therefore attract a very large number of visitors of all ages, a very important issue is to determine the degree of safety that the indoor microclimate presents. Thus, the quality of the indoor microclimate was investigated inside an iconic museum in Romania, dating back to the 19th century, because pollutants from external or internal sources of the building, generated secondary, often anthropogenic, as a tendency to defend/adapt to climate change (CC), contribute to both local and regional pollution, but also lead to challenges in identifying links between air quality (AQ) and and climate change (CC). The methodology used was based on monitoring the main parameters of the microclimate (temperature, relative humidity and CO2) over a period of between October 2020 and March 2021, 21 weeks, as well as on determining the microbiological contamination of the air and some indoor exhibits located in three different areas of the museum. At the same time, the study aims to identify cheap, easy to implement and non-invasive solutions for removing fungi identified on exhibits for long-term preservation and reducing the risk of various pathologies in humans following prolonged exposure. The results obtained show that the indoor microclimate in the old heritage building favours the development of fungi, which have a high degree of contamination of the air (over 800 CFU/m3) and of the exhibits, representing a potential risk for the health of the visitors and museum workers. Thus, six species of yeast and five different fungi genera were identified in the air, while on the exhibits were individualised six fungi genera, a species of yeast and a bacterium. The most viable solution for cleaning materials, prolonging their lifespan and reducing the risk of disease in humans was represented by the use of essential oils (EO). Three essential oils (lavender, mint and lemon) were applied on an exhibit with five different microorganism genera, and it was observed that they have the ability to inhibit the spores from moulds and bacteria, being a very good alternative to the usual chemical treatments that are used in the cultural heritage field.

An improper indoor microclimate has adverse effects on the state of preservation of historical textiles arranged in them, favoring the development of bacteriological microflora. The current study aims to combine traditional and innovative methods for cleaning and preserving a 100-year-old traditional blouse from Bihor, Romania. The material of the blouse was impregnated with 30 and 70 ppm silver nanosuspensions and washed with a substance obtained from boiling natural wood ash (lye). The research goals were to determine the antimicrobial action of lye washing and silver nanoparticles applied to the analyzed textile material and identify the way in which the environmental factors (light) act upon the conservation degree of textile objects impregnated with silver nanoparticles. All these procedures are eco-friendly and do not cause any damage to the constituent material of the fabrics. The use of the hyperspectral imaging technique proved the permeation of both 30 and 70 ppm silver nanosuspensions into the textile, producing changes in the textile’s reflectance spectrum after being treated with them. The results showed anti-bactericidal/fungal properties of both silver nanoparticles and lye. Microbiological analyses revealed that bacterial colonies were reduced to more than 95% in both cases. The antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles on the textile material of the blouse was maintained throughout the duration of the study, and under normal environmental conditions, the effects would remain active for a long period.

During the years 1965-1985, a veritable industrial platform was developed in the west part of Oradea, Bihor County, Romania. It stretches on an area of 9 sq. km. and is placed in the meadow of Crisul Repede River. Throughout that period, several industrial facilities were built that lately became sources of pollution for the environment. The purpose of the present paper is to study the influence of historical stages of industrialization and restructuring of enterprises in Western Oradea, addressing the evolution of groundwater quality, by mainly using geospatial analysis means. The evolution of some parameters in the water samples taken from drilling wells which characterize the groundwater quality were analyzed over a period of 30 years by using a pre-existing database, provided by the Romanian Waters National Administration-Crisuri branch. The ArcGIS system was used to highlight the spatial trends of the analyzed indicators on 16 maps. The available values have been incorporated into a pre-existing database, developed in ESRI ArcGIS 9.3. The results regarding the industrial sources indicated an extensive pollution process of the groundwater in the years 1977, 1990, and a reduction of the pollutants'concentrations in the recent monitoring years. Contrary to this evolution, the nitrate concentration increased toward 2008, exeeding the admitted limits. It is also noted, that until 1990 the pollution of the groundwater is rather of industrial nature and after 1990 the level of industrial pollution decreases, as in the restricted areas the agricultural pollution is amplified.

The old fibers that make up heritage textiles displayed in museums are degraded by the aging process, environmental conditions (microclimates, particulate matter, pollutants, sunlight) and the action of microorganisms. In order to counteract these processes and keep the textile exhibits in good condition for as long as possible, both reactive and preventive interventions on them are necessary. Based on these ideas, the present study aims to test a natural and non-invasive method of cleaning historic textiles, which includes the use of a natural substance with a known antifungal effect (being traditionally used in various rural communities)—lye. The design of the study was aimed at examining a traditional women’s shirt that is aged between 80–100 years, using artificial intelligence techniques for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imagery analysis and X-Ray powder diffraction technique in order to achieve a complex and accurate investigation and monitoring of the object’s realities. The determinations were performed both before and after washing the material with lye. SEM microscopy investigations of the ecologically washed textile specimens showed that the number of microorganism colonies, as well as the amount of dust, decreased. It was also observed that the surface cellulose fibers lost their integrity, eventually being loosened on cellulose fibers of cotton threads. This could better visualize the presence of microfibrils that connect the cellulose fibers in cotton textiles. The results obtained could be of real value both for the restorers, the textile collections of the different museums, and for the researchers in the field of cultural heritage. By applying such a methodology, cotton tests can be effectively cleaned without compromising the integrity of the material.

Ethnographic heritage textiles may be subject to risks generated in particular by various factors in close connection with the microclimate of the storage and exposure areas. In accordance with the current European trends of pest prevention and reduction and response to the infestation/contamination of the cultural heritage, the research direction of this study aimed at investigating the degradation of some women’s clothing items, around 80–100 year-old, made of natural fibres, namely cotton. Throughout this paper, an essential aspect was taken into account for establishing a preventive or curative conservation strategy, namely the characterization of the fabric from which the three shirts are made. Thus, some physical and structural characteristics were determined by making use of different types of analyses: FTIR spectroscopy, the spectra specific for cotton; the microbiological analyses showed the presence of Bacillus subtilis and Rhizobium radiobacter, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, which are not considered pathogenic or toxigenic to humans with the normal function of the immune system.