The Periodic Conservation Maintenance Plan of the Sistine Chapel is the result of a complex organizational “machine,” which involves a plurality of skills ranging from the technical-scientific, logistical, and administrative sectors of the Museums. The Infrastructure and Services Directorate of the Governorate and the accredited external firms are committed to preserving the delicate balance within the “Sistine Chapel System”.

Balance is at the basis of maintaining the optimal state of health of the Sistine frescoes, linked in a direct way to the physical-chemical conditions of the environment that houses them, and that throughout the year is checked daily by the network of sensors that are specially designed and implemented for environmental monitoring. Promoted with conviction by the Museums management since 2012, as part of the broader strategy of preventive conservation of the collections on display and in storage, the Intervention Protocol is in the following operations: reconnaissance and periodic removal of dust from the painted surfaces, the chancel, the altar and the marble transept, gradual removal of any salification still present on the paintings, mapping of the state of conservation and review of areas subjected to previous consolidation and cleaning treatments, diagnostic analysis, maintenance and control of air conditioning and lighting systems and the entire monitoring systems.

The routine maintenance service lasts 5-6 weeks, usually between January and February, with evening working hours when the public is not present. For work at great heights, the operators use two mobile elevating platforms made available by the Governorate’s Infrastructure and Services Department, which allows them to reach a height of 20 meters. These platforms permit close inspections of the frescoed surfaces with the additional ability to maintain the terminal parts of the air conditioning, lighting systems, and the entire network of sensors for accurate environmental monitoring.

The Conservation Maintenance Plan is an essential part of state-of-the-art conservation sciences. The plan includes forming studies, lauching research, making discovieries, and collecting data to allow restorers, scientists, and technicians to evolve practices that use increasingly accurate and less invasive technologies. The Plan is configured as a best practice, consistent with the objective of ensuring the works - from frescoed surfaces to marble artifacts - the best conservation, and, at the same time, offering it for the public view and education offering it for the education and view of the public.

TOTAL COST: € 231.075,80 ($ 246,927.60)