The incredible story of the Vatican ‘hospital’ where works of art are saved

The restoration laboratory of the Vatican Museumsfounded in 1923 by Pius XI, has completed its first century of history as a “hospital” that cares for the enormous artistic heritage of the popes.

In this workshop, The restaurateurs, dressed in white coats, become authentic ‘doctors’ to restore their original splendor to works from various historical periods and techniques, from paintings, sculptures, frescoes and materials of all kinds. Now, to celebrate this anniversary, the exhibition “The Restorer’s View” has been opened, which will allow us to appreciate in unprecedented detail the work on thirty works by Michelangelo, Raphael or Leonado Da Vinci, thanks to a QR code tour.

“It is the oldest tradition Laboratory that we have in the Vatican Museums,” said the director of the Vatican Museums, Barbara Jatta, who assured that, in addition, it is “the most numerous” in terms of workers. A workshop, she indicated, in which “the evolution of the concept of restoration and conservation” has been the maxim that has ensured the care of the 5,300 paintings and hundreds of other frescoes that fill the almost eight kilometers of galleries in the Vatican Museums.

The team of rrestorers, historians and scientists It is made up of 26 people with a permanent contract in the workshops, joined by another 10 “external” workers who come and go depending on the work being carried out in the 350 square meters of facilities equipped with the latest technology.

Located under the Vatican Museums art gallery, the bulk of these workshops are divided into seven “studios” where different techniques are worked on, from the restoration of paintings, gilding, polychrome or the wooden structure of the works, to the maintenance and prevention of possible damage. In 1923, Pope Pius “the value of culture, art and history for evangelization“said Jatta.

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Although this concern of the Church for the conservation of works of art dates back centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries, edicts were issued to “protect buildings from impoverishment” and even “the prohibition of the sale of private assets,” said the head of the laboratory, Francesca Persegati.

The germ of this entity that keeps works of art safe and sound dates back to the year 1543 with the ‘Office of the Mundator’, which was in charge of cleaning dust from the surface of paintings owned by the Papal States. Since then, and especially since 1923, Important actions have been carried out, such as the cleaning of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in 1984, a milestone that occurred for the first time with a “scientific, technological and multidisciplinary” approach, which marked a before and after in the way of restoration.

The “look” of the restorer The restoration techniques carried out in these workshops vary “depending on the type of problems” that the works present and the “case study” carried out by the restorer. Scientific laboratorysaid the painting laboratory’s master restorer, Angela Cerreti.

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This teamwork with scientists and historians is essential to use “the least invasive materials for the work and least toxic for the operator” in what is a necessary balance so as not to alter the original spirit of each painting. Cerreti arrived at the laboratory after the mafia attack against the basilica of San Juan de Letran in 1993, a “dramatic” event that prompted the hiring of a team made up mostly of women and that does not stop “catching up” to search