Giant golden Hercules struck by lightning restored to its ancient glory at Vatican Museums.

(13 May 2023)
VATICAN HERCULES RESTORATION

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

RESTRICTIONS:

LENGTH: 7.25

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vatican City, Vatican - 11 May 2023

1. Mid of the restorer arriving and removing with scalpel some crusts from the statue's face
2. Close up of the restorer's hand removing with scalpel some crusts from the statue
3. Close up of the restorer's hand touching the face of the statue
4. Various of the restorer at work on the statue
5. Tilt up of the statue
6. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Alice Baltera, restorer at the Vatican Museums' Metal and Ceramic Laboratory:
“We have reached a point in the restoration where, after having removed all the (layers of) protection that had been applied over the last century, since the end of the 19th century, we have finally uncovered the original gilding, which is exceptionally well preserved, especially for consistency and homogeneity. We are now in the final phase in which we are removing the small encrustations that formed during the burial and that had evidently not been removed during the restoration at the end of the 19th century.”

7. Pan left of the statue's face
8. Restorer at work on the statue
9. Close up of the scalpel removing crusts
10. Various of the restorer working on the statue with scalpel and magnifying glasses
11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Alice Baltera, restorer at the Vatican Museums' Metal and Ceramic Laboratory:
“The most difficult thing in this restoration is certainly the removal of all the crusts that are found on the surfaces, which are caused by burial, and are very delicate. We have tried different cleaning methods, but the only way is to work precisely with special magnifying glasses, removing all the small encrustations one by one. Fortunately, there are very few unstable forms of corrosion, so once all the protections and waxes that blackened the gilding have been removed, we are now left with the task of removing these crusts and also the 19th-century stuccoes, which are very hard and rigid.”

12. Various of a restorer working on the statue
13. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Giandomenico Spinola, archaeologist in charge of the artistic-scientific area:
“He (the Hercules statue) had the good fortune, (and) misfortune, of being struck by lightning, and it is said that sometimes being struck by lightning generates love but also eternity. In this case, he got his eternity by falling from above and being placed in a kind of travertine marble shrine, because having been struck by lightning, (the statue) was considered a sacred object, which preserved it until about 150 years ago.”

14. Restorer at work on the statue filmed from below
15. Close up of the statue's hand holding a club
16. Pan left from a missing part of the statue to the hand of the statue
17. Changing focus from the missing part of the statue to the metal structure inside it
18. Pan left of the restorer trying out a cast of a fig leaf on the missing part of the statue
19. Tilt down from the tourists visiting the room where the statue is displayed to the inside part of the statue with the metal support structure
20. Close up of the metal support structure inside the statue
21. SOUNDBITE (Italian), Ulderico Santamaria, head of the scientific research laboratory of the Vatican Museums:

22. Zoom in on the inside of the statue
23. Mid of the restorer cleaning a part of the statue
24. Close up of the scalpel removing encrustations from the statue
25. Various of the restorer working on the statue
26. SOUNDBITE (Italian), Ulderico Santamaria, head of the scientific research laboratory of the Vatican Museums:

28. Various of the statue




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