It carries out cross-material conservation science, art technology and archaeometry studies of fine arts and cultural artifacts to determine composition, age and authenticity and provide advice on their restoration.
It further conducts academic research on scientific issues concerning the care and preservation of monuments and archaeological sites.
Other methods for the investigation of materials include a weathering chamber to simulate environmental conditions and mobile measuring systems for monitoring the physical and chemical environment for art works in situ.
[1] The Rathgen has exposed several scandalous forgeries, including paintings in the Beltracchi affair.
Analysis of annular rings in the original frames demonstrated that the wood was indeed old but came from trees that had once stood tightly side by side, unlikely for diverse works such as Fernand Léger and Max Ernst.