Vatican's Raphael Room Regains Its Splendour After 10 Years of Restoration

The "Constantine Room", one of four made by the Renaissance genius Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) and his studio for the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, has regained its original splendor after 10 years of restoration.

The space, the largest of the so-called "Raphael Rooms", was named after the emperor who gave freedom of worship to Christians in Rome in the 4th century, and houses some of the most beautiful frescoes from the artist's youth.

The "Constantine Room" has been undergoing restoration since March 2015, a work that was officially handed over only this Thursday (26), on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Catholic Church, and portrays the triumph of Christianity over paganism in Ancient Rome.

"Today we celebrate not only a milestone in conservation, but also a new possibility for a critical reading of one of the symbolic places of Renaissance painting. The Room of Constantine once again becomes a figurative atlas of rare narrative power," said Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, which house the "Raphael Rooms."

The spaces were designed as apartments for Pope Julius II (1503-1513), who, at the beginning of the 16th century, had commissioned Raphael, then a relatively young painter from Urbino, to completely remodel the rooms.

It is possible that Julius II's goal was to surpass the apartments of his predecessor and rival Alexander VI (1492-1503), since the "Raphael Rooms" are located directly above the rooms of the former pontiff of the powerful Borgia family. The rooms, however, were only completed after the death of Julius II and Raphael himself.

"The complete recovery of the iconography of the Hall of Constantine, from the walls to the vault, allows us to better visualize the historical passages that characterized the Church of Rome in the 16th century," said Fabrizio Biferali, curator of the Vatican Museums for 15th and 16th century art.

According to master restorer Fabio Piacentini, cleaning the frescoes restored their original colors and allowed a new understanding of the paintings' technical layers. "The restoration was like lifting a centuries-old veil: behind the patina of time, every detail found light, depth and meaning," he explained.

The work was aided by cutting-edge technology, including reflectography, false-color infrared, UV fluorescence, chemical analysis and 3D modeling based on laser scanning.

Located on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace, the rooms, together with Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes, symbolize the High Renaissance period in Rome.