El Greco inaugurates the preparation of the Jubilee 2025 in RomeAfter 250 years since the last restoration and in view of the Jubilee of 2025, new conservation work will be carried out on the bronze baldachin of St. Peter's Basilica, located immediately above the tomb of the Successor of the Apostles.
This was announced at a press conference by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv., archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, vicar general of the Pope for Vatican City, as well as president of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, which will be in charge of the complex restoration project.
Towards the opening of the Holy Door
The work will last until next December, shortly before the opening of the Holy Door, and will have the scientific support of the Direction of the Vatican Museums, with the Cabinet for Scientific Research applied to Cultural Heritage. They will be worked on by a team of excellence made up of professionals of recognized prestige and consolidated experience in the restoration of works in bronze and other artistic materials.
The scientific research will be cross-checked with the documentation of the Historical Archive of the Fábrica de San Pedro. Before the start of the new restoration, in fact, a documentation campaign of every part and component of the baldachin was carried out, including a three-dimensional model that is currently being elaborated and the production of almost six thousand photographs using drones.
The project is supported by the Knights of Columbus and is in continuity with the project for the improvement and new lighting of the Vatican Necropolis, also supported by the same Knights.
After 250 years
As already mentioned, the current restoration is the first systematic and complete intervention 250 years after the restorations of the 18th century and exactly 400 years after the work on the baldachin began in 1624 and was completed some ten years later.
As explained at the press conference by the engineer Alberto Capitanucci, head of the Technical Department of the Vatican's St. Peter's Factory, the baldachin - born of the collaboration between Bernini and Borromini - is a majestic processional "machine" 30 meters high and weighing more than 60 tons.
It has marble plinths, bronze columns decorated in gold, a wooden ceiling with gilded bronze elements, angels at the crown and four large bees at the top. The surfaces to be restored show adhesions and flaws, and the wooden ceiling is also characterized by irregularities and flaking.
The works, scheduled to last 10 months, will begin in the second week of February. The innovative approach to the management of technical documentation through digitization and the use of technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM-H) was highlighted. The aim is to preserve the works, facilitate scientific studies and involve the world of research.
It has also been assured that the temporary works and construction will not prevent papal celebrations from taking place at the main altar, especially during Holy Week.
