The center exists due to the impulse that Joaquim Folch i Torres gave to the project when he sent Manuel Grau i Mas in Milan with the objective that was formed by the hand of Mauro Pelliccioli, then director of the restoration laboratories in Milan, attached to the Pinacoteca di Brera art gallery. The Milan laboratories had a decisive influence on how restoration work was carried out all over Europe. Work continues today with a view to establishing the Museu Nacional Department of Restoration and Preventive Conservation as a reference and resource, which may operate separately from the museum itself, in terms both of the working methodologies and the rigour and the criteria that the centre applies.