Michelangelo's Final Works Restored
(July 02, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday, 4th of July, will inaugurate the newly restored Pauline Chapel, which contains the two final works of Michelangelo. The Pope will celebrate solemn vespers in the chapel, which is within the Apostolic Palace and is used as a private chapel for the Pontiffs. It houses Michelangelo's depictions of the conversion of St. Paul and the crucifixion of St. Peter, painted between 1542 and 1550. The €3.2 million ($4.5 million) restoration project was presented during a press conference Tuesday in the Apostolic Palace. Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, president of the Governor's Office for Vatican City State, expressed satisfaction "that the work ended almost in symbolic concurrence with the conclusion of the Pauline Year, as was programmed.” The project began in 2004, at the request of Pope John Paul II. Mauricio De Luca directed the group of painters. De Luca said the restoration of the Pauline Chapel was the most difficult project that the Vatican Museum restoration group has undertaken, not only because of the surface area of the paintings, but also "because of the complexity of the problems from the technical point of view and because of the decisions related to the overall aesthetic restoration." The Pauline Chapel is on the first floor of the Apostolic Palace, close to this Sistine Chapel. It owes its name to Pope Paul III who commissioned it in the early 16th century.
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