Sistine Chapel pollution 'too high'
Filtering systems 'inadequate', director says
03 September, 15:46
(ANSA) - Vatican City, September 3 - The level of atmospheric
pollution in the Sistine Chapel is too high and the masses who
walk through it each day threaten the priceless art there, the
director of the Vatican Museums said Friday.The number of visitors is "excessive", climate controls "inadequate" and there is an "insufficient" capacity to remove pollutants, Antonio Paolucci told Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano.
"If we want to conserve the Sistine Chapel in acceptable conditions for future generations, tackling this is our challenge," Paolucci said.
"Men of our time are not capable of producing masterpieces comparable to those of the past. There will be no more Michelangelos or Raphaels. But in conserving their heritage we must deploy resources of creativity and intelligence not inferior to the ones that those greats exhibited in creating their art".
The Vatican has in recent years taken measures to bring down the number of people in the Sistine Chapel at any one time, but it is still visited by an estimated 10,000 people a day.
The Chapel has just been given one of its regular dustings-off.
A team of 30 specialists were suspended next to the surfaces each night for the past month to clean off the dust and other materials that have accumulated since the last cleaning, four years ago.
