The Idea

The Archive Documentation System (S.D.A.) in support of the Project (" A Project for Piero della Francesca") è was created in 1991 at the same time that the official announcement was made that the work of restoration had begun (See, Rome, Monumental complex of San Michele, Press conference "La Leggenda della Vera Croce. L’avvio del restauro. Seconda fase: dopo le indagini i primi interventi conservativi" December 19, 1991).

The System is based on a new idea, conceived in 1990, with a triple intent:

- activate a permanent observatory of the conditions of the painted surfaces based on the knowledge developed during the preliminary study phase (1985-90), to be further enriched in the restoration and future monitoring phases;

- enhance the methodology of restoration by the addition of a reliable cognitive tool that would serve both as a support system and as an "operative arm" with which to meet the complex challenges in the conservation and future valorization of the Piero della Francesca frescoes in Arezzo;

- constitute a "permanent documentation center" for future study and diffusion of information regarding the study and conservation of the mural paintings of Piero della Francesca and to construct, with the use of computer technology, an organic data base for the Project and an interactive multimedia system to be hooked up to the international electronic network and available for public consultation.

The System is a unified structure for the registration and documentation of all data produced in each disciplinary area of research and intervention, pursuant to the original program of multidisciplinary research previously designed for the earlier phases of the Project.

One of the System requirements is the ability to carry out an integrated and organic examination of the documentation through the correlation of data, especially between historical information and the results of the most recent diagnostic studies of the restoration, in order to be able to make a direct contribution to the development of more in-depth information and more advanced operational methods in both the restoration and information fields.