Inauguration of the newly-restored Apollo Belvedere at the Vatican Museums

An artistic masterpiece that defies time

Thanks to the precious contribution of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, and after delicate restoration works that lasted almost five years. the celebrated and priceless sculpture dating back to the early decades of the second century, is now open to public viewing again.

Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, presided over the inauguration ceremony for the masterpiece on Monday afternoon, 14 October. The presentation was attended by Barbara Jatta, Director of the Governorate’s Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage, Msgr. Terence Hogan, Coordinator of the Office of Relations with the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, Giandomenico Spinola, Deputy Artistic-Scientific Director of the Directorate of Vatican Museums and Cultural Heritage, and Claudia Valeri, of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities. Also present were some Directors of the Directorates of the Governorate, including Guy Devreux, head of the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory, Andrea Felice and Valentina Felici, of the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory, and Fabio Morresi, head of the Cabinet of Scientific Research. Sabrina Zappia, President of the Italian Chapter and the International Chapter of the Patrons also attended the presentation.

The restoration project was coordinated by the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities and carried out by the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory, in collaboration with the Cabinet of Scientific Research of the Vatican Museums.

At the end of the presentation, held in the Octagonal Hall where the Apollo Belvedere was placed, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga presided over the official unveiling.

As part of events linked to the inauguration of the Apollo Belvedere, Barbara Jatta and Giandomenico Spinola will introduce a conference on the theme “The Apollo Belvedere, restoration in balance between technology and philology”, at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, 15 October, in the New Hall of the Vatican Museums. The conference will provide  detailed explanations of the restoration process. Claudia Valeri, Guy Devreux, Andrea Felice, Valentina Felici, and Fabio Morresi and Msgr. Hogan will address conference participants.

The following is Cardinal Vérgez Alzaga’s adress during the official unveiling of the Apollo Belvedere:

First of all, I would like to greet and thank the institution that funded the restoration, the Bank of America Art Conservation Project 2021. Its generous contribution made this precious restoration possible.

I would also like to thank the mediation of the Italian & International Chapter and the Illinois and New York Chapters, for their contribution to the preliminary studies on the statue.

I thank and greet the Director of the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage, Ms. Barbara Jatta, the Curator of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Ms. Claudia Valeri, and all the collaborators of the Directorate.

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Vatican Museums and to be with you this evening. I am pleased to have this wonderful opportunity. After a long and delicate restoration process, the Appollo Belvedere can once again be admired by the many people who visit the Museums’ galleries every day.

Ever since it was found in Rome at the end of the 1400s, the Apollo was admired with great wonder. Pope Julius II wanted it to be transferred to the Vatican, where it was displayed in the Belvedere for 500 years, in the very same place, in which we will now be able to admire it again.

Among all the works that survived the shipwreck of Antiquity, the Apollo Belvedere represented the highest ideals of art for centuries. It was admired and reproduced an infinite number of times, and inspired artists of all epochs, becoming part of our collective imagination.

In December 2019, when monitoring activities of the sculpture revealed that something was wrong, there was immediate concern. With the famous sculpture at risk, urgent interventions were made to keep it safe. However, no one suspected that a few weeks later the world would be going through a pandemic. At the beginning of March, the tragic nature of the moment became clear, and a surreal and long period of suspended animation began.

The Apollo had to wait for the gradual return to a state of normality. During the slow recovery, the support of our Patrons was crucial to launching the restoration studies, and later, the planning and implementation of the complex restoration works which we are presenting today.

Dear friends and generous supporters of the arts, we are grateful and thankful to you for having made the Apollo stable again.

Ever since the beginning, the shared objective was to guarantee stability to the statue by intervening with great caution. The Apollo needed an additional support, which involved the use of innovative technologies and materials. A sightly arched carbon fibre was inserted into the marble platform, to take the pressure off the fragile legs of the approximately 150 kilogram Apollo.

Thanks to the cleaning of the statue, which was also a delicate and complex procedure, the marble surface of the sculpture gradually regained its brightness and plastic vigour. The statue’s curls revealed a purplish colour, which suggested that a solution had been used for the application of golden leaves to its thick hair.

It is thus with renewed joy that this evening we bring back before the eyes of the world, a shining Apollo, radiant like the one of Homer, a masterpiece of art and brilliance that we hope will continue to defy time for centuries.