Sistine Chapel is at risk

DUST and pollution brought into the Sistine Chapel by thousands of tourists every day risk endangering the chapel’s masterpieces by Michelangelo, the Vatican Museums chief warned.

Antonio Paolucci told the newspaper La Repubblica that to preserve Michelangelo’s Last Judgment and the other treasures in the Sistine Chapel, new tools to control temperature and humidity must be studied and implemented.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 people a day visit the Sistine Chapel, or some four million a year.

Paolucci said that such a crowd “emanates sweat, breath, carbon dioxide, all sorts of dust”.

He said better tools were necessary to avoid “serious damage” to the chapel in the future.