Erminia Cuadana
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Erminia Caudana (6 April 1896 – 5 January 1974) was an Italian restorer. She was known for her restoration of ancient papyri.


Life

Caudana was born in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
in 1896. At the age of fourteen she went to work at the
Turin National University Library The National University Library (), located in Turin, Italy, is one of the country's main libraries. It was founded in 1720 as the Royal University Library by Victor Amadeus II, who unified collections from the library of the University of Turi ...
which was directed by Carlo Marrè. Marrè was a former restorer of the Vatican library who had first arrived in Turin after a fire in January 1904 to help recover rare artefacts damaged by the fire. Caudana would take over from Marrè in 1921. In 1929 she went to Egypt to assist in the restoration of the Kings Papyrus working under Giulio Farina. This document described the history of the pharaohs to
Rameses II Ramesses II (sometimes written Ramses or Rameses) (; , , ; ), commonly known as Ramesses the Great, was an Egyptian pharaoh. He was the third ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Along with Thutmose III of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he is often re ...
and had been found in 1822. She worked with many leading egyptologists and in 1937 she was asked to work on papyri from 2543 to 2435 B.C.E. The 12 rolls were taken to Turin where with care they could be unrolled. Cuadana had spoken of a special liquid she had that could be used to soak papyri for 24 hours. After this they could be unrolled and reshaped between panes of grass. Once restored these artefacts could then be returned to Egypt. Caudana worked on many notable documents and textiles and died in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
in 1974. She had worked with her nephew, Amerigo Bruno, during her final years.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caudana, Erminia 1896 births 1974 deaths People from Turin