At the centre of the Sikh faith, the Golden Temple in Amritsar is a building of international importance. Less well known than the famous gilded exterior, the internal surfaces of the building are sumptuously decorated with wall paintings, polychrome plaster and inlaid marbles and metals.

Situated in centre of a lake in an area of India where summer temperatures commonly reach 50°C, the environmental conditions effecting the building fabric are extreme. Added to this the small temple is visited by many thousands of pilgrims every day. As a result, the paintings have suffered from extensive mechanical and environmental damage, and have been partially restored and repainted on many occasions in the past.

Tobit Curteis Associates was commissioned to carry out a condition survey and analytical investigation of the internal decorations and to identify the ongoing causes of deterioration in order to develop proposals for their long term conservation.