Preserving Michelangelo's Frescoes
(Syracuse, N.Y., June 3, 2002) -- When the beautiful frescoes adorning the Sistine Chapel's famed ceilings were unveiled to the public 490 years ago this October, the artist, Michelangelo, probably wished for a more comfortable indoor environment after spending four years toiling alone to complete the nearly 1,300 m2 of ceilings and walls. Today, millions of awed observers are attracted to the Sistine Chapel's frescoes each year. However, with each group of visitors comes dirt, heat and humidity. This amazing artwork is meant to be shared and seen by many, but if these conditions kept up, it would not have been possible.
As a result, in the late-1980s the Vatican called on Carrier to design and install an air conditioning system that would let the frescoes rest in stable comfort while still allowing visitors from around the world to gaze at Michelangelo's works overhead.
Combining off-the-shelf cooling and heating products with computer-based electronic sensors and controls, Carrier created a system that bathed the ceilings and walls with temperate air and humidity. The air is cleaned with powerful filters that remove chemicals and even bacteria-sized particles. Visitors, meanwhile, are showered with a higher velocity air flow that keeps dirt and humidity at floor level. The system also allows the Vatican's conservators to seal the chapel's windows, keeping modern Rome's exhaust and the pollutants found in the air of any large city outside.
Unless you know where to look, the system, which was dedicated by Pope John Paul II on June 4, 1993, is all but invisible to visitors and worshippers¿no easy task in a building whose 400¿year-old walls are 10-feet thick in some places.
The Sistine Chapel frescoes appear much as they did in 1512 when Michelangelo laid down his brushes. But recently having been extensively restored, they are now as bright and colorful as when Michelangelo laid down his brushes. However, because the frescoes are clean for the first time in centuries, they are vulnerable to 20th-century dangers such as air pollution that Michelangelo couldn't possibly contemplate. Fortunately, Carrier did. The cooling system Carrier created in conjunction with the Vatican Technical Services was designed to prevent the man-made problems of today from causing any damage to the restored artwork.
The Sistine Chapel is much more than a gallery for the frescoes of Michelangelo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and others¿it is a functioning chapel used by the Vatican for religious services. To preserve the quiet environment, the Carrier systems contain sound-absorbing, sound-deadening material and vibration dampers.
The Carrier system has another "hidden" benefit. Its electronic control system constantly gathers information that allows scientists to closely track the chapel's microclimate. When combined with memory banks full of physical data about the frescoes gathered before and during the restoration, scientists are able to anticipate any problems that could once again threaten to dim the brilliance of Michelangelo.
The Vatican was so pleased with Carrier's work that in 1999, it asked Carrier to air condition a new entrance for the Vatican Museums. Again, Carrier partnered with Vatican City's Technical Services Department to create a custom cooled environment.
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