THE MINISTRY OF CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TOURISM

The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism will play an important role in the restoration of the Sala delle Asse. Involved in the project by the Municipality of Milan since the start, it has provided funds to start the restoration work on the basis of the preliminary project carried out by the Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Lombardia and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e per il Paesaggio di Milano.

The Ministry – represented by the Direzione Regionale, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici, the Soprintendenza per i Beni Storici, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici di Milano, and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure of Florence – has also defined the project relating to Leonardo’s preparatory “Monochrome” design on the walls (currently the most deteriorated part) and established study facilities for analysis of the paintings on the ceiling and in the lunettes.

The involvement of the Ministry has enabled a scientific approach to be taken to the works, including a complex series of preliminary scientific investigations as part of a diagnostics project implemented in cooperation with the Politecnico di Milano, the CNR-ICVBC, and the Imaging Department of the Centro Conservazione e Restauro La Venaria Reale. The diagnostics project is gradually revealing the state of the paintings, the causes of their deterioration and the actions required to halt the damage, and identification of the procedures to follow.
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