Many projects in the field of Protection, conservation and finally restoration of historical monuments are carried out in the country every year, However, there is unfortunately no suitable platform for sharing the practical experiences in this field within the country, which could significantly enhance the quality of these protection and restoration efforts nationwide. Emergency reinforcement of architectural ornaments is often necessary during the restoration of historical buildings. For this purpose, the restorer of architectural ornaments must create safe conditions to preserve the existing ornaments during the restoration of the building. Eram House in Yazd is one of the Qajar-era buildings in Yazd city that is currently about to be restored and repurposed. This
building, in the Central Room, features plasterwork, mirror and glass ornaments, as well as wall paintings with plant motifs and inscriptions. Due to the damage in the various layers of the architectural ornaments restorers faced challenges in reinforcing the structure and restoring the deteriorated parts of the building. Structural restoration measures posed a risk of destroying these ornaments; since the cracks indicating structural movement had caused the ornaments to detach and loosen from their underlying layers, which include: support (brick), scratch coat (straw), and top-layer (fine coat), all of which require reinforcement. The entire surface of walls, except for the ceiling wall in the Eram House, has an additional layer of gypsum plaster coating, which has obscured parts of the gypsum stucco ornaments and murals. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the hidden ornaments in different parts by conducting soundings in the walls of the Central Room of Eram House.
In some places, the walls need careful reinforcement by the building restorers. However, the presence of murals in these areas, limits the possibility of any reinforcement measures. Thus, the murals at these points should be separated carefully from the walls and preserved. After completing structural reinforcement, the murals should be reinstalled in their original locations. The main goal of this project was to stabilize the existing arrays in the king's room and also to create suitable conditions for any structural restoration interventions in the building. Therefore, in line with the projectives objectives as the conditions of placement and considering the placement conditions of works and materials, as well as the type and extent of damage in different parts of the room, an emergency strengthening method was selected. Restoration materials were prepared according to each method, as presented in Table 1. This article is not a result of comprehensive research. but rather an account of an emergency
intervention experience. The intervention focused on a strengthening approach, to achieve the needed stability, allowing building restorers to carry out structural reinforcement and restoration without concern. In this context, understanding the remaining of architectural arrays is crucial, Subsequently, key the questions were addressed to guide the restorers: what is the type and extent of the damage? Which damages require strengthening at this stage? to what extent should this operation progress? What method should be adopted for each architectural array with various damages? Ultimately, emergency strengthening was carried out on the ceiling and walls of the palace, encompassing plaster arrays, mirror and glass arrays, as well as murals. In several parts of the murals, due to the sever condition of the underlying layers (cause by Saudi humidity), it was decided to separate the mural pieces. This article provides a detailed, description of the practical emergency reinforcement measures undertaken on the architectural arrays of Eram House in Yazd.
