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Restoration at Vatican's gallery of maps completed

(Vatican Radio) Anyone who has visited the Vatican Museums will have inevitably walked through the Gallery of Maps which so happens to lead towards the Sistine Chapel. This long corridor is, however, a jewel in itself and has now been lovingly restored in a project that has lasted four years.The frescos are a geographical feast for the eye which represent Italian regions and papal properties.The gallery was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1581. It then underwent changes under Pope Urban VIII between 1632 and 1637. There are 40 maps in all which were illustrated by artists of the day including Ignazio Danti, Matthijs and Paul Bril and Cesare Nebbia.So what prompted this restoration project? The Deputy Director of the Vatican Museums, Professor Arnold Nesselrath explains. “It badly needed work because with 6 million people going through this long corridor in the course of the year causing the vibration, the plaster gets loose on the walls, there is a risk of it falling do...

(Vatican Radio) Anyone who has visited the Vatican Museums will have inevitably walked through the Gallery of Maps which so happens to lead towards the Sistine Chapel. This long corridor is, however, a jewel in itself and has now been lovingly restored in a project that has lasted four years.

The frescos are a geographical feast for the eye which represent Italian regions and papal properties.

The gallery was commissioned by Pope Gregory XIII in 1581. It then underwent changes under Pope Urban VIII between 1632 and 1637. There are 40 maps in all which were illustrated by artists of the day including Ignazio Danti, Matthijs and Paul Bril and Cesare Nebbia.

So what prompted this restoration project? The Deputy Director of the Vatican Museums, Professor Arnold Nesselrath explains. “It badly needed work because with 6 million people going through this long corridor in the course of the year causing the vibration, the plaster gets loose on the walls, there is a risk of it falling down …” He also says, that although  it was not the primary objective, it was decided to clean the maps in order to “get things in the end right again”. 

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with the Deputy Director of the Vatican Museums, Professor Arnold Nesselrath 

With the restoration project now complete visitors will be able to view, in a new light, islands that don’t belong to Italy anymore such as Corsica and Malta and the territory of Avignon which belonged to the Holy See until 1789.

Funding for the project came in the form of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican, most notably the Patrons’ California Chapter who generously supported the restoration work.

Arnold Nesselrath describes all the scenes in this gallery as “enchanting” and he hopes that people who come to the museums will remember it, because he says, “there is the danger that it merely becomes a corridor to go through to the Sistine Chapel, people have no time to reflect on the beauties of that room, to contemplate all the little scenes…”

He also says, that in times like these it is very important that "people learn again to contemplate works art" and the gallery, he adds, is the perfect place to do that.

 

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