Sweat and breath damaging Sistine Chapel's frescoes

Sweat, dust and the breath of the 4.5 million tourists who tramp through the Sistine Chapel each year are damaging its priceless Renaissance frescoes, the head of the Vatican Museums has warned. Art custodians expressed alarm over the state of the exquisite paintings which adorn the chapel, in the heart of the Vatican city state, following the first cleaning operation for four years. The Sistine Chapel is subjected to an influx of between 15,000 and 20,000 visitors a day, with each tourist responsible for adding to the invisible cloud of dirt, dandruff and other microscopic debris that floats up into the uppermost reaches of the famed church. Climate control systems which regulate the temperature and humidity inside the chapel are up to 20 years old and in urgent need of replacement. The guardians of the world famous site say that it has become a victim of its own success it is the climax to tours of the adjoining Vatican Museums and some tourists sprint ahead of the crowds to experience its grandeur in relative solitude. The delicate cleaning operation, which began in mid-July, was carried out by a team of 30 experts working at night the only time that the Sistine Chapel is free of tourist hordes. The restorers accessed the chapels high walls and ceiling in crane-mounted cherry pickers and used goat hair brushes to remove unimaginable amounts of dust from the frescoes by Michelangelo and other Renaissance masters, said Prof Antonio Paolucci.