Virtual Restoration and Protection of Cultural Heritage Images

Cultural heritage field can benefit from the image processing field in many ways. Several years of research accomplished at MICC and DET have led to the establishment of an integrated software for image processing of cultural heritage images. The tool is able to protect the digital reproductions of art works, by means of a powerful and robust watermarking technique, as well as it put at disposal some virtual restoration tools, able both to simulate the actual restoration that can be performed over the real art work or to process digital images in order to improve their appearance, or to highlight some features of interest for restorers and curators. In the following, such a tool is presented, as well as some results of its application.