Vatican City Seek

Wh-ay OT, like by a few centuries, but also pretty darn cool, thought I'd share. The second _link_ is the one you need to watch the restoration. My Italian is limited but it doesn't appear to be working right now, which is 5:30PM EST, I'll definitely be checking in later. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010402/re/arts_italy_dc_1.html http://www.progettomose.it/ Michelangelo's Moses in Restoration on the Internet By Alexandra Salomon ROME (Reuters) - An unprecedented high-tech restoration of Moses, one of Michelangelo's greatest sculptures, began on Monday with millions of people around the world able to follow every minute live over the Internet. ``We want to give Moses to the world,'' said Alberto Abruzzese, head of the project to clean and restore the massive 16th-century statue of the Biblical prophet who led the exodus. For what experts say is the first time ever, people the world over will be able to watch the entire project minute by minute over the Internet as web cameras capture each delicate touch of restorers' hands. Tucked away in one of Rome's lesser-known churches, St. Peter in Chains, the imposing and breathtakingly realistic Moses may become as familiar to the general public as Michelangelo's other Biblical masterpiece, the statue of David in Florence. Clicking on www.progettomose.it allows visitors to spy on chief restorer Antonio Forcellino as he delicately applies special solvents to remove centuries of accumulated dirt. The dirt and smoke from the church's candles have darkened the once vibrant shades of the white marble. ``We have to remove dirt and pollution, which can damage the marble, and we want to uncover the original shades of colors,'' Forcellino, dressed in a white labcoat, told Reuters Television. Still, even before the restoration, many visitors were awestruck at the details of the veins, the contours of the muscles, and the curls of Moses' long flowing beard. An Unprecedented Restoration Forcellino, who acknowledged he will feel uncomfortable at first before the cameras, said the project was unprecedented and unrivalled because it will give e-visitors a chance to understand the complexity and delicacy of art restoration. Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo in 1505 to build a massive mausoleum to immortalize him in grandeur. Work on the tomb, which was to have consisted of 40 massive statues, was delayed when the Pope ordered the Renaissance master to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling first. Michelangelo began work on Moses in 1513, after Julius' death, and finished the statue in three years. Julius' successor, Paul III, diverted Michelangelo from the tomb project and ordered him to paint the Last Judgement wall of the Sistine Chapel first. Julius' tomb was never completed. It took Michelangelo eight months to select marble blocks from the quarries in Carrara in Tuscany and three more years to sculpt Moses and two slaves. The slaves are in the Louvre museum in Paris. Michelangelo envisioned Moses as a towering figure whose imposing presence would give viewers a sense of how the Old Testament titan might have appeared as he came down from Mount Sinai after God handed him the tablets of the Ten Commandments. The wall which was built behind the statue will be torn down to uncover the windows behind it, bathing the statue in natural light to highlight all three dimensions. According to tradition, when Michelangelo finished Moses, he was himself so taken by its life-like appearance that he banged it with a hammer and shouted ``But why don't you speak?.'' Restorers haven't yet found any signs of the hammer blow but Internet art lovers may well be on the lookout. Cheers, TD I'd been carving you To see what form you'd take You were hiding in ivory I just wanted to free your shape      from The Tragically Hip's Bring It All Back                           For a good time call        http://members.nbci.com/oroborus12/70s.html                Tiny Dancer's X-Files Episode Guide                     http://www.insanity.com.au/td/         The Sesame Street Lyrics and Sounds Archive                                  http://i.am/tinyd