Restoration Laboratories of the Vatican Museums - FB
The fourth edition of the Florence Biennale reserved a special section for the Restoration Laboratories of the Vatican Museums, which were awarded the prestigious "Lorenzo il Magnifico" International Award for their commitment to safeguarding an artistic heritage of inestimable value. The Biennale wanted to bring into direct contact with the public a daily and tireless work that, like many fields of research, reaches peaks of refined professionalism while maintaining notes of indispensable eclecticism.
The Restoration Laboratories of the Vatican Museums are rooted in the centuries-old tradition of the Vatican Collections. These laboratories constitute a unique reality in many respects, of vital importance for the conservation and knowledge of a cultural heritage as immense as it is varied. In addition to the more strictly museum-related activities, the Laboratories participate as a technical and scientific structure in the protection of the Holy See's cultural heritage.
The Restoration Laboratories of the Vatican Museums are rooted in the centuries-old tradition of the Vatican Collections. These laboratories constitute a unique reality in many respects, of vital importance for the conservation and knowledge of a cultural heritage as immense as it is varied. In addition to the more strictly museum-related activities, the Laboratories participate as a technical and scientific structure in the protection of the Holy See's cultural heritage.
The Restoration Laboratories of the Vatican Museums at the Florence Biennale 2003
In addition to the documentary presentation of the major restorations, visitors of the Biennale were given the opportunity to come into direct contact with the individual laboratories, specialised by subject, to which conservation activities are entrusted (from paintings to mosaics, from ceramics to metals, from textiles to paper, from wood to stone materials). The workshops showed not only aspects of the consistency of the materials, but also aspects of their historical value.
A varied review of works from different periods, cultural areas, styles and materials was presented in a new light, providing an opportunity generally precluded to the normal museum visitor. An extraordinary opportunity to cross that boundary where the curiosity of the 'uninitiated' generally has to stop. The exhibition offered an overview of the most important restorations carried out in recent years (those of the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Rooms are only some of the best known, but many will also remember the sensational restoration of Michelangelo's Pietà) and of the methods of investigation and intervention in the most common and sometimes anonymous cases.
A varied review of works from different periods, cultural areas, styles and materials was presented in a new light, providing an opportunity generally precluded to the normal museum visitor. An extraordinary opportunity to cross that boundary where the curiosity of the 'uninitiated' generally has to stop. The exhibition offered an overview of the most important restorations carried out in recent years (those of the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's Rooms are only some of the best known, but many will also remember the sensational restoration of Michelangelo's Pietà) and of the methods of investigation and intervention in the most common and sometimes anonymous cases.
