Dedicated liaison office for cultural heritage at the SOLEIL synchrotron

Summary. — Starting January 2004, the SOLEIL synchrotron has set up a dedicated interface for cultural heritage (art and technology history, archaeology, conservation and restoration). The present contribution aims at summarising the activities of the interface for the period 2004-06. A first step consisted in a detailed survey of the current context of synchrotron usage for cultural heritage through strong interactions with actors of the field, an extensive review of the existing publications and the co-organisation of specific workshops and round tables. From this preliminary survey, the interest of a dedicated project involving European research infrastructures is clearly emphasised. Such a project should focus on solving the major issues and limitations encountered by the heritage community in its use of advanced characterisations techniques.