The world’s only particle accelerator dedicated to art is switched on for the first time at the Louvre in Paris to help experts analyse ancient and precious works.
The 37-metre (88-foot) AGLAE accelerator housed underneath the huge Paris museum will be now be used to routinely study and help authenticate paintings and other items made from organic materials.
The Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museum of France (C2RMF) — which is independent of the Louvre — has spent 2.1 million euros ($2.5 million) overhauling and upgrading the machine, which can determine the chemical make-up of objects without the need to take samples.
The Louvre Museum with its Glass Pyramid in Paris, France (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Hteink.min)
The AGLAE works by speeding up helium and hydrogen nuclei to speeds of between 20,000 to 30,000 kilometers (12,400 to 18,600 miles) per second and then bombarding the object, which emits radiation that can be captured and analyzed.
Among the first objects to be tested by the newly configured accelerator were Roman votive statues of the household gods — the Lares — which were said to protect the home.
— AFP
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