Monitoring of bio-aerosols, gaseous and Particulate Matter (PM) pollution of Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow, Poland.

Abstract

Krakow is now firmly established as one of the Europe’s top tourist destinations and, at the same time, it is one of the cities with the worst air quality in Europe. The Wawel Royal Castle is of the most important museum and predominatingly visited attraction of the city of Krakow (in 2017, the Castle was visited by over 1.4 million tourists). Taking this into account, and in accordance with the guidelines of European Standards, the Wawel Royal Castle has been implemented the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for protection of cultural heritage (CSN EN 16790:2016). As a part of the preventive conservation strategy, the monitoring of Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) has been carried out in addition to the standard control of climate parameters. Air samples were collected in rooms with various intensity of tourist traffic including: State Rooms, Royal Private Apartments, as well as warehouses and conservation workrooms. The highest concentrations of PM, selected chemical compounds and microorganisms in the air were observed in the first halls at the entrance to Castle and in some conservation workshops.