Bhubaneswar, April 29: The Odisha Art Conservation Centre of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) today concluded a month-long workshop on restoration techniques of manuscripts and archiving materials for scholars from universities in Odisha, Bengal and Bihar at State Museum here.

The workshop was organised with support from the National Mission for Manuscript under the Union ministry of culture. Ten research scholars and postgraduate students from the Sanskrit, library science and Vedic science departments of Utkal University, Rabindra Bharati University (Bengal) and Patna University (Bihar) took part in the training.

Experts trained the scholars in the techniques of preserving and restoring palm leaf as well as paper objects and other manuscripts. Starting from the most basic methods, they were trained in advanced methods of looking after the scripts using scientific and indigenous techniques.

"This is an annual event for the centre. It is registered for training in curative conservation of manuscripts under the Union ministry of culture since 2003. We impart practical training on how to handle ancient documents, palm leaf scripts and such material of archival importance. The main objective is to give the participants an orientation on spreading awareness at their end," said conservation centre director Mallika Mitra.

On the last day, the participants demonstrated some of the techniques they were taught - book binding, scraping dust out of palm leaf manuscripts and chemically treating them. "It was an enlightening experience which we will definitely put to use.We will reach out to people and convince them to conserve their collections of age old books or manuscripts," said Utkal University scholar Satyajit Nayak.

"We often come across deteriorating books and scripts at monasteries or mutts. Now, we can properly preserve them," said Rabindra Bharati University scholar Sudeshna Mitra.