VATICAN CITY (AP) — Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” is undergoing a facial restoration as restorers remove the chalky white salt film that has accumulated on the Renaissance masterpiece since its last major restoration three decades ago.
The Vatican revealed to the media on Saturday the cleaning operation, which was carried out on a floor-to-ceiling scaffolding that obscured the majestic Heaven and Hell frescoes at the front of the church.
Cleaning is expected to be completed by Easter in the first week of April. In the meantime, the public can continue to visit but must be content with a replica of “The Last Judgment” superimposed on a screen covered in scaffolding.
Vatican Museums officials on Saturday described a simple but important cleaning operation to remove a white film of salt that has accumulated on frescoes, thanks to the nearly 25,000 people who pass through the Vatican Museums every day.
“The reason for this salt is, above all, when we sweat, we release lactic acid, which unfortunately reacts with the calcium carbonate in the walls,” said Fabio Moresi, head of the scientific team overseeing the cleaning at the Vatican Museums.
He said climate change also plays a role, as visitors tend to sweat more, creating more humidity that reacts with the murals.
Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, described the film as a “cataract” that was easily removed: Conservators soaked Japanese rice paper in distilled water and applied it to the fresco, then carefully wiped off the salt film.
Looking up close on the scaffolding on Saturday, the difference before and after was striking: The parts of the mural that hadn’t been cleaned looked as if they were covered in a layer of chalky dust; the parts that had been cleaned showed the vivid colors and details of the original. For example, on the statue of Jesus in the center of the fresco, privileged visitors can see how Michelangelo painted his hair and the wounds of his crucifixion.
The Sistine Chapel is named after Pope Sixtus IV, a patron of the arts who oversaw the construction of the papal cathedral in the 15th century.
But later Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the famous ceiling, The Creation of Adam, showing God’s outstretched hand between 1508 and 1512. Later Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to repaint “The Last Judgment” in 1533.
Other frescoes in the Sistine Chapel are cleaned annually, with restorers using cherry pickers at night, so they can be removed each morning before the public arrives. The Sistine Chapel is where Pope Leo XIV was elected in May.
But such a machine would not be able to access the full content of the Last Judgment, since the fresco is located behind the altar, which itself rises on marble steps. This logistical hurdle required the installation of fixed scaffolding to access the entire mural for cleaning.
The Sistine Chapel underwent a comprehensive restoration between 1979 and 1999, removing the smoke, dirt and wax that had accumulated over the centuries. The Vatican has left a small section of the pre-restored frescoes intact to show the difference, and they can now be seen on the upper levels of scaffolding, showing the almost blackened walls.
Rather than radically reducing the number of visitors entering the Sistine Chapel, the Vatican is looking into ways to address the humidity issue through filtration systems and other technologies so that a salt film no longer forms.
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