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How to design lighting protection for art museum exhibits

Many materials and their colors are easily damaged or faded by radiation. Some precious exhibits in museums may be damaged or even destroyed even when displayed under normal light. Even very slight damage can affect the appearance of the exhibits and cause criticism from the art and academic circles. Therefore, for the lighting of various light-sensitive exhibits, visual clarity and brightness contrast must not be the main requirements, but protection should be the main focus.

Any light radiation that can be absorbed by an object (including infrared light, visible light or ultraviolet light) is a cause of damage. Among them, ultraviolet light is the most dangerous because it can cause photochemical changes in organic substances. As for chemical changes caused by absorbing long-wave light, they can only occur when there is a thermal effect. High humidity will accelerate the process of this chemical reaction, which is another thing that should be paid attention to in museums and art galleries.

If natural lighting is used in art galleries, it will cause some items to fade because there is a considerable amount of ultraviolet radiation. The same situation will occur if fluorescent tubes are used, because fluorescent tubes can also produce ultraviolet radiation, but the degree will vary depending on the light color of the selected tubes. Most museums use more natural lighting than artificial lighting, so the main protection is to filter the ultraviolet rays transmitted from windows and skylights.

The color rendering of the lamp depends on the spectral distribution of the light source. If a lamp with a relatively soft and balanced light distribution (i.e. highly realistic) is selected, the color rendering of the exhibits will not change significantly with the color rendering of the light source due to the adaptability of the eye to it.

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