In just a few months, extraordinary restoration works of The final judgmentMiguel Ángel’s masterpiece in the Vatican Sistine Chapel, according to Paolo Violini, new director of the Paints Restoration Laboratory and Wood Materials of the Vatican Museums.
This process, which will begin in January 2026, will complement the regular maintenance of the fresco, which is carried out annually. “We should end in March, to be able to clear the wall before the start of Holy Week,” Violini said in an interview with Vatican News.
Receive the main news of ACI Press by WhatsApp and Telegram
It is increasingly difficult to see Catholic news on social networks. Subscribe to our free channels today:
During the three months of work, “scaffolding will be installed that will cover the entire wall. They will consist of a dozen work platforms with elevator that, to reduce work times and avoid obstructing the public’s view, will allow us to work with up to 10 or 12 people simultaneously and have a close experience with the work,” he added.
Violini happened in the position to Francesca Persegati in early August. In addition to the extraordinary restoration of The final judgmenta process of restoration of the Rafael lodgeswhich has an estimated 5 -year projection.
Las Rafael lodges o Lodges of the Apostolic Palace are a series of spaces in the Vatican that work as a corridor and were decorated around 1519 by a wide team of artists at the service of Rafael, among which Giovanni da Udine stood out.
According to the Polytechnic University of Madridthe surfaces of these spaces were covered with “Grucco designs on a white background with paintings imitating sculptures in niches and small figurative themes in a rebirth of ancient Roman style.”
They are “fourteen sections of exquisite stucco and fresh, work of Giovanni da Udine and other collaborators,” said Violini, who catalogs these runners as a true “World Heritage” that “gave rise to the decorative genre of the Grutesco, recovered from Roman antiquity and extended throughout the 16th century.”
Around 26 experts will be at the service of the Paints Restoration Laboratory and Wood Materials of the Vatican Museums in the coming months, coordinated by Violini and Assisted – in some cases – by external colleagues.
“We have an important story,” said the director. “The laboratory was founded in 1923, but the history of conservation in the Vatican goes back further, to when the works were under the jurisdiction of the artists of the Academy of San Lucas in the 19th century,” he added.
“More than in other institutions, special attention is given to the intangible value of the work of art,” said Violini.
The Pope restorators, according to the Vatican media, are also custodians of the Christian message and of the faith that the sacred works transmit.
Andrés Henríquez
I was born in Caracas in 1996. I am a writer for ACI Press and correspondent of EWTN since 2023. Since then, I cover events of the Catholic Church in Venezuela, Latin America and the world. I have more than 6 years of experience in bilingual media. In addition, in Venezuela I have worked from various fields for freedom and respect for fundamental rights in the country. I am a member of the Regnum Christi Federation since 2014.