Getty Conservation Institute.

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), a part of the J. Paul Getty Trust, was initially planned in 1982 and began full operation in 1985. Since its inception, the GCI has engaged in a program of scientific research, educational activities, documentation, and the dissemination of information through publications, conferences, workshops, and public programs that include research opportunities for professionals and public lectures. In addition, the Institute has conducted international field projects in Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Europe. The GCI's endeavors are designed to serve the needs of the conservation profession by undertaking work that tackles broad practical or theoretical questions of significance to the conservation field. The Institute develops and refines tools for conservation and shares its expertise with institutions and organizations worldwide so that its efforts have the greatest possible benefit to the practice of conservation.

The Getty Conservation Institute's first field project focused on the 3,200-year-old tomb of Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens, near Luxor, Egypt. Beginning in 1986, in collaboration with the Egyptian Antiquities Organization (EAO), a multidisciplinary, international group of experts conducted an intensive six-year campaign, which included condition assessment, analysis, emergency treatment, and conservation of the extraordinary wall paintings in the tomb. The project included training conservators from Egypt and other countries. One of the main objectives of the conservation effort was to maintain the site's historical integrity; therefore treatment of the wall paintings was limited to consolidation and cleaning.