Air pollution, particularly in urban areas, is a concern for its negative effects on the materials of the built environment. Cities are also home to a large part of our cultural heritage. Air pollution accelerates the natural processes of deterioration of the materials of historic buildings and monuments, causing premature aging and reducing their aesthetic value. The present paper aims to assess the current potential damage due to air pollution on different materials through Europe. Several corrosion and soiling maps were produced by applying widely used dose-response functions. One of the priorities of this study was to provide an estimate of the effects of air pollution on UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites throughout Europe. The potential risk for cultural heritage monuments was estimated on the basis of exceeding tolerable degradation thresholds suggested for each material. The results show that, despite the significant improvements in air quality in Europe over the past few decades, air pollution is still considerable and continues to be an important agent of degradation of cultural heritage, particularly in anthropized areas. Although the methodology used in this study provides a simplified assessment of the likelihood of damage to UNESCO's cultural heritage in Europe from air pollution, it provides a unique perspective and the potential risk is assessed on a common basis. The results obtained contribute to a better understanding of the existing risk deriving from atmospheric pollution and to highlighting those sites, generally located in areas where anthropogenic activity is relevant, that need particular attention. The present paper can serve as a basis for stimulating additional studies and site-specific analyzes, as well as highlighting the need for further measures and policies for atmospheric pollution reduction in cities and in the surroundings of sensitive historic buildings and monuments to prevent further damage.

空气污染，特别是在城市地区，由于其对建筑环境材料的负面影响而令人担忧。城市也是我们文化遗产的很大一部分。空气污染加速了历史建筑和古迹材料退化的自然过程，导致过早老化并降低了其美学价值。本文旨在评估目前通过欧洲不同材料对空气污染造成的潜在损害。通过应用广泛使用的剂量响应函数，可以绘制出一些腐蚀和污染图。这项研究的重点之一是估计空气污染对整个欧洲教科文组织世界文化遗产的影响。根据超过每种材料建议的可容忍的降解阈值，估算出文化遗产古迹的潜在风险。结果表明，尽管在过去几十年中欧洲的空气质量有了显着改善，但空气污染仍然很严重，并且仍然是文化遗产退化的重要推动力，尤其是在人类居住地区。尽管本研究中使用的方法简化了对空气污染对欧洲教科文组织文化遗产造成损害的可能性的评估，但它提供了独特的视角，并在共同基础上评估了潜在风险。获得的结果有助于更好地了解大气污染带来的现有风险，并突出显示这些地点，通常位于与人为活动相关的区域，需要特别注意。本文件可作为刺激其他研究和针对具体地点进行分析的基础，并强调需要采取进一步措施和政策以减少城市和敏感历史建筑和古迹周围的大气污染，以防止进一步破坏。