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Mortar beds of three late 19th century sepulchral mosaics from two cemeteries in Prague, Czech Republic were investigated by SEM-EDS, DTG, XRD and FTIR. The materials had a very similar chemical and mineralogical composition – calcite, dolomite, portlandite and quartz were identified in all of them. Calcite was present both as the main constituent of the binder and in the form of angular grains. Moreover, the mortars contained 16 – 18 wt% oil, most probably linseed oil. Due to the rate of degradation and FTIR limi...