Restorer uses scalpels to revive Rome's Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli

Описание: (9 Mar 2026)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy – 9 March 2026

1. Various of restorer Melanie Khanthajan removing with a scalpel the layers of plaster put over the original decoration on one of the vaults of the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli
2. Wide of Michelangelo’s Moses sculpture seen through scaffolding
3. Top shot of the Basilica seen from the top of the scaffolding
4. Various of restorer working with scalpel
5. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Melanie Khanthajan, Restorer:
“This is an operation called “descialbo” that is, of removing the layers of dye applied over the original decoration, which is what is found below. Then, through the mechanical action of the scalpel, we gently remove everything that hides the decoration.”

6. Restorers working
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Melanie Khanthajan, Restorer:
“(It’s) Beautiful, because we are doing an operation that is still constantly evolving. We don't know what's underneath. So every removal of this layer surprises us because it allows us to understand what it (the original decoration) is like, what emerges. So it's completely new. Every time we are here to remove and to work on this surface, it's still something unexpected, so for us it's wonderful, it's a discovery every day."

8. Restorer working on a marble decoration depicting the Della Rovere family crest; the noble family that financed the restoration of the Basilica in 16th century and gave it the present appearance
9. Restorers’ tools
10. Various of restorer working
11. Tilt up from restorer to seventh-century mosaic depicting Saint Sebastian
12. Various of restorer working
13. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Victoria Mattia, Restorer:
“In short, we must try not to affect the original, also because here we are in the presence of – they are not marble – but they are reproductions, a scagliola (plaster based reproductive technique), so they are more delicate, and therefore you have to be careful.”

14. Various of baroque funerary monument for Mariano Vecchiarelli, Vatican official
15. Ilaria Sgarbozza, Scientific Director for the Restoration, climbing down the scaffolding
16. Basilica’s frescoed vault seen from scaffolding
17. Tilt up of scaffolding
18. SOUNDBITE: (Italian) Ilaria Sgarbozza, Scientific Director for the Restoration:
“It’s a project of the Special Superintendency of Rome that concerns the restoration of the decorated surfaces of part of the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli. It is a project that was born with the PNRR (post-pandemic European recovery fund), therefore an extraordinary loan that was granted between 2020 and 2021 to the Superintendency. The works started about eight months ago and will end by May 2026, so let's say a very fast pace. The funding was 2 million euros."

19. Various of the chains, believed to be those with which Saint Peter was imprisoned first in Jerusalem and then in Rome
20. Pan of the Basilica
21. Tilt up from press officer at Rome’s Special Superintendency Luca Del Fra to vault
22. Restored vault decoration depicting the Della Rovere family crest
23. Various of scaffolding
24. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Luca Del Fra, press officer at Rome’s City Hall Culture Department:

25. Various of Michelangelo’s Moses
26. Picture of Pope Leo XIV standing in front of the altar zone
27. Tilt down of the Basilica
STORYLINE:
LEADIN:

A massive restoration programme is underway in Rome’s grand Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli which is getting a 2 million euro clean up.

The church is famous for housing Michelangelo's sculpture of Moses and the chains which are supposed to have bound St Peter himself.

STORYLINE:














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