Our Conservation Facility

Conserving artwork at the Lunder Center

The Lunder Conservation Center is the first art conservation facility that allows the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of essential preservation work. Conservation staff for both the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery are visible to the public through floor-to-ceiling glass walls that allow visitors to see firsthand all the techniques that conservators use to examine, treat, and preserve artworks.

The Center has six state-of-the-art laboratories and studios equipped to treat paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, sculptures, folk art objects, contemporary crafts, decorative arts, frames, and time-based media art. The media lab is not located in the museum’s main building and is not visible to the public, so check out the time-based media hallway on the fourth floor of the Center.

In addition to providing expanded space for conservation projects, the Lunder Conservation Center is a destination for learning about conservation science and techniques through educational public programs and outreach initiatives.