MAY's Museum and Galleries Month is being launched at Chepstow Museum by a conservation open day.
"The conservators come out of their lairs in the Drill Hall," says curator Annie Rainsbury.
"They are not only displaying their conservation techniques but inviting the public to bring along objects and documents for advice on preservation and storage."
The work of conservators has increasingly attracted the public's fascination, particularly with a number of TV programmes highlighting their investigative work and their ability to transform items by painstaking cleaning and repair.
Paper conservator Christine Cheffins will demonstrate washing and surface cleaning techniques and object conservator Rowena Hill will show some work in progress.
With a microscope there will also be the chance to view things in a new light – including some of the damaging pests that can destroy objects at home too.