Penelope Banou

Lecturer

Department: Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Penelope Banou holds a PhD from the Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art of the University of West Attica (Athens, Greece), she holds a BA degree from the Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, TEI of Athens, Greece (1996) and a MA degree with distinction from the Northumbria University in UK (1998) in Arts in Conservation of Fine Art, specialized in paper conservation.

From 1998 until 2022 she worked as a paper conservator for archival material, books and works of art on paper collaborating with museums, private and public collections. Her professional activities include participation in preservation and conservation projects, while she has been involved in education and research programs with several publications for the last 20 years. Her interest has mainly focused on the effect of oil binders on the paper support of books, archival material and works of art, but she has also engaged in the research on the evaluation of the condition of copy book and copy letters and the documentation and treatment of special categories of archival material on parchment.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Increasing Awareness for the Protection of Archival Material, Banou, P., Stassinou, A. 1 May 2025, Written Heritage: New Challenges and Perspectives, Horn, Austria, Verlag Berger Horn
Oil media on paper: investigating the morphological and chemical changes of linseed oil-impregnated paper mock-ups upon ageing, Banou, P., Boyatzis, S., Choulis , K., Karabotsos, A., Alexopoulou, A., Theodorakopoulos, C. 4 Jun 2024, Book of Abstracts: 6th International Conference on Innovation in Art Research and Technology, Oslo, Norway, University of Oslo
Varnish removal from works of art on paper, a controversial matter. Recent reflections on the materials and methodology used for the treatment of the varnish layer, Alexopoulou, A., Kiskira, E., Banou, P., Choulis , K., Theodorakopoulos, C. 4 Jun 2024, Book of Abstracts: 6th International Conference on Innovation in Art Research and Technology, Oslo, Norway, University of Oslo
Απεικονιστικές Τεχνικές στη Μελέτη της Πολιτιστικής Κληρονομιάς, Banou, P., Alexopoulou, A., Kaminari, A., Moutsatsou, A. 28 Jan 2024
Η επίδραση του λινελαίου ως συνδετικού υλικού στο χάρτινο υπόστρωμα του αρχειακού υλικού, των βιβλίων και των έργων τέχνης. Διάκριση σταδίων φθοράς., Banou, P. 18 Sep 2024
Ψηφιακή εποχή: ευκαιρία διάχυσης και επαναπροσδιορισμού των επεμβάσεων συντήρησης, Stassinou, A., Banou, P. 30 Jul 2024, In: Συντηρητές σε ψηφιακό περιβάλλον
Letters patent for the establishment of Roman Catholic confraternities in the seventeenth century in Greece: Typology, materials and aspects of preservation, Banou, P., Stassinou, A. 19 Apr 2023, Care and conservation of manuscripts 18, Copenhagen, Denmark, Museum Tusculanum Press
Oil Media on Paper: Investigating the Interaction of Cold-Pressed Linseed Oil with Paper Supports with FTIR Analysis, Banou, P., Boyatzis, S., Choulis , K., Theodorakopoulos, C., Alexopoulou, A. 2 Jun 2023, In: Polymers
Non-destructive investigation of paintings on different substrates. Methodology, achievements and limitations, Kaminari, A., Banou, P., Moutsatsou, A., Alexopoulou, A. 16 Jan 2022, In: Design/Arts/Culture
Oil Media on Paper: Investigating the Effect of Linseed Oils on Lignocellulosic Paper Supports, Banou, P., Boyatzis, S., Choulis , K., Karabotsos, T., Tsimogiannis, D., Tsakanika, L., Tzia, C., Alexopoulou, A. 2 Jul 2022, In: Analytica

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Oral presentation: Varnish removal of works of art on paper. Evaluating the results of gel applications 2025
Oral presentation: The Charta of Greece by Rigas Velestinlis in the collections of the Onassis Foundation: Integrated physicochemical study using novel imaging, topographic and spectroscopic techniques 2025
Oral presentation: Eco-friendly materials in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage: Assessment of green gels and fluids for cleaning surfaces of cultural heritage objects 2025
Editorial work: npj Heritage Science (Journal) 2025
Editorial work: Verlag Berger Horn (Publisher) 2024
Oral presentation: Increasing awareness for the protection of archival material, books and works of art on paper: tools and opportunities in a new framework. 2023
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: ERC 2024. Written heritage: new challenges and perspectives 2023
Editorial work: Verlag Berger Horn (Publisher) 2023
Oral presentation: Oil Media on Paper: Investigating the Effect of Linseed Oils on Paper Supports via VOC analysis” 2022
Oral presentation: The challenge of displaying archival material and books: the role and the viewpoint of a paper conservator 2022