Deteriorated and diseased archivals are subjected to operative preservation measures in accordance with the priority plan. These activities are carried out in the Archives laboratory (established and equipped in 1972) where they are treated through the application of the accepted principles of conservation and restoration, by manual or machine methods. Because of the conservation and restoration process, which takes a long time to complete, it was necessary to introduce new methods of restoration and apply state-of-the-art technology which would halt the sudden piling up of deteriorated documents. A considerable number of instruments, machines and accompanying equipment has been provided for the needs of the laboratory as well as large quantities of the work material all of which has contributed to a faster, easier and more effective performance of the restoration activities. In addition to the traditional method of manual restoration (manual filling of the deterioration and wrapping the documents with Japanese paper), the filling method used now is suitable for very damaged pages. All damaged places are filled with cellulose fiber pulp at once and the thickness of the paper and the colors can be set so that, after the restoration, the page maintains its original appearance. As the machine method of restoration using laminate has already been superseded in the world, for the restoration of the documents needing this method a vacuum press has been provided which will speed-up and make easier the restoration of the maps, plans, posters and other types of large-size archival documents.
The library of the Archives has a rather large number of books: old, rare and others which do not require total restoration so that a vacuum table was purchased, an instrument also used as a foundation for manual restoration of loose pages and the covers of bound books. The ease of operations was helped by the provision of an ultrasound steam instrument used to separate the pages stuck together and can be used for other purposes. Every year, the Archives laboratory restores about 6 000 documents. Since the preservation of the documents of the Archives is of great importance for history, the conservation and restoration service is given a task and a challenge to discover new possibilities for implementing new technologies. To be able to do that it is necessary, first of all, to enlarge the premises and improve their equipment, as well as to train new personnel.