1. Bacterial destruction of wooden cultural heritage Charlotte Björdal 1, Thomas Nilsson 1 and Rene Klaassen 2 1 Faculty of Forestry, Swedish university of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden 2 SHR, Foundation of Timber research, the Netherlands

2. Wood in historical context

3. Small bacteria makes great harm

4. Foundation poles supporting historical buildings Venice

5. Shipwreck and other archeological remains Roman ship Wooden castle

6. BACPOLES Preserving cultural heritage by preventing bacterial decay of wood in foundation piles and archaeological sites European Commission (energy, environment and sustainable development the city of tomorrow and cultural heritage) EVK4-CT-2001-00043 2002 - 2005

7. Aim and objectives 1.Identify the bacteria responsible for decay 2. Development of methods for protection of cultural heritage

8. BACPOLES based on Wood sampling Environmental monitoring At: 24 sites in Europe

9. Outcome of BACPOLES

10. Identification of bacteria DNA/RNA identification Cytophaga-Flavobacteria-Bacterioides

11. Bacterial decay in Europe Decay progessing at all 24 sites Bacteria active and alive in both poles and archaeological wood Activity even in very old wood (2500 years) Adapted to environments low in inorganic nutrients

12. Development of preservation methods 1.Based on bacterial identification, bacteriophages/ virus killers were developed 2.Impregnation/ incapsulation in situ 3.Friendly chemicals

13. Future work Protection of wooden remains in situ BISKUPIN, Poland

14. Future work Preservation and protection of wooden foundation supporting historic buildings BRYGGEN, Norge

15. Acknowledgement The BACPOLES research team members are gratefully acknowledged for fruitful cooperation. The European commission, 5th framework programme, for funding.