By Deborah Odette
By now many of you will have seen the impressive scaffolding installed at the church to facilitate this work. The scaffolding is 55’ tall at the apex.
Work began on the frescoes on Tuesday of this week. It makes sense if you think about it, that the cleaning should begin at the top of the piece. So I encountered the team of restorers who were working around the mandala and the Lamb of God that we can only barely see from our vantage point at the church floor.
You may have also seen already a video that Fr. Bill posted on Facebook about the restoration. We were able to see the remarkable change in color which the cleaning is creating. These pictures show the difference between cleaned and uncleaned portions of the fresco. Also noted were some surface losses in the gilded areas of angel wings; these will be infilled and inpainted.
I was struck by the degree of patience and diligence it must take to work as a restorer; imagine the enormity of the task, cleaning an area of such vast scale with handheld sponges and untold numbers of cotton swabs.
The results will be well worth the wait!
I am very proud of my church today. The respect and infinite care of such precious artifact is appreciated and can only be attributed to the excellent staff we have