Friday, November 02, 2012

Vatican curators cast an eye on Sistine Chapel ceiling

sistine chapelON October 31, 1512, the "Warrior Pope" Julius II, intent on restoring the glories of Rome, held a simple vespers prayer service for 17 cardinals to mark the completion of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling.
 
Michelangelo's masterpiece, one of the great marvels of human achievement, is 500 years old this week. 

The Pope commemorated the half-millennium on Wednesday by repeating Julius II's vespers service beneath the magnificent 40m ceiling.

The anniversary comes amid renewed controversy over the overcrowding of the chapel, now visited by five million tourists a year. At peak season, as many as 25,000 sweaty, dusty people troop through the sacred space, posing a risk to the art they have come to see. 

The number has doubled in the past 20 years and new arrivals from Asia are sure to push attendances even higher.

"After 500 years, it's doing quite well. We want to make sure it remains in good condition for another 500 years," Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums and the man responsible for the chapel's preservation, said beneath the frescoes. 

"People bring dust, humidity and temperature and that mix can be a danger for the frescoes."
 
The chapel is the sacred venue of one of the most important functions in the Catholic Church: the conclave of cardinals to pick a new pope. 
 
Adjacent to the Apostolic Palace, it was modified by architect Baccio Pontelli from 1477 to 1481 to give it the dimensions of the lost Temple of Jerusalem.

In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV commissioned frescoes from the Tuscan and Umbrian artists Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli. 

But their work was overshadowed by the masterpiece commissioned by Julius II in 1508 from the 33-year-old Michelangelo. His centrepiece, The Creation of Adam, with God stretching out his finger to give life to Adam, is an iconic image.

Controversy over the flood of tourists broke out again last month when Pietro Citati, a leading Italian literary critic and biographer, protested about the "drunken herds", in the newspaper Corriere della Sera. 

"The church needs money for its various activities, but these monstrous conditions are not possible," the writer complained.

Former Italian culture minister Mr Paolucci hit back with an article in L'Osservatore Romano, the official Vatican newspaper, arguing that restricting numbers would deny visitors the chance to enjoy the church's historic culture.

The Vatican is working to install a new climate control system by the end of next year that can filter out dust and humidity to protect the frescoes. 

"If it does not work, we will have to resort to limiting numbers," Mr Paolucci said.

He said it was impossible to envision that, if the tourism doubles again in the next 20 years, there will be 10 million visitors to the chapel.