Architectural Restoration Criteria in the Maya Area

Degradation and Protection

The issue of deterioration would require an expert and a separate book. Nonetheless, allow me to share a part of what I have learned and experienced regarding the deterioration process and how climate impacts on monuments. According to experts, the degradation of construction stones is an irreversible natural phenomenon with the main intervention of water, due to rainfalls or capillarity, the humidity of the environment, winds, temperature, and a number of factors related to mineral and organic decomposition. These are all totally natural phenomena that science is unable to eliminate.

But some actions may be undertaken to delay deterioration, though we should be aware that as humans, we lack the capacity to eliminate the effect of natural phenomena, particularly when the objects to be preserved are exposed to them. I repeat, I am not a chemist with an expertise in such effects, but my thirty eight-year long experience has taught me a few interesting things about the behavior of deterioration in limestone. The following examples will help to understand how we can be of help.

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