Renaissance Masterpiece brings tourists out in a sweat
For serious art lovers heading for Rome, the Sistine Chapel has to be top of the tourist agenda. Yet the magnificent 500 year old frescoes painted by Michelangelo, Bernini, Botticelli and Raphael are victims of their own popularity due to dust and sweat from over £4 million people who file through the building every year.
A thorough cleaning of the Chapel during the summer revealed an astonishing amount of human hair, dust and fibres. The director of the Vatican Museums, Professor Antonio Paolucci, is very concerned: “These people sweat, breathe and produce dust – you would be amazed how much dust a human body gives off – and they also bring in material fibres and loose hair.
‘In essence, there are too many people at a time and the climate control system is not sufficient to cope with these enormous levels of humidity produced by the sheer number of tourists.”
To help counteract the effects of between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors each day, the Vatican is planning to update its climate control technology and carry out extensive cleaning once a year instead of every four years as originally planned.
In the meantime, tourists can use some of the money they save on cheap flights to Rome by investing in good deodorants!