ITALY: ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI BASILICA FRESCOES BY GIOTTO ARE RESTORED FOLLOWING DAMAGE IN THE 1997 EARTHQUAKE
Record ID:
649109
ITALY: ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI BASILICA FRESCOES BY GIOTTO ARE RESTORED FOLLOWING DAMAGE IN THE 1997 EARTHQUAKE
- Title: ITALY: ST FRANCIS OF ASSISI BASILICA FRESCOES BY GIOTTO ARE RESTORED FOLLOWING DAMAGE IN THE 1997 EARTHQUAKE
- Date: 26th September 2002
- Summary: (U6) ASSISI, ITALY (SEPTEMBER 26, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF THE TOWN WITH ST FRANCIS BASILICA IN THE FOREGROUND 0.07 2. PAN ACROSS TOWN OF ASSISI TO BASILICA 0.16 3. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF BASILICA 0.22 4. SMV ROUND DECORATED WINDOW OF BASILICA 0.28 5. WIDE OF INTERIOR OF BASILICA WITH TOURISTS 0.34 6. TILT UP TO CEILING WITH DECORATION 0.42 7. SLV TOURISTS LOOKING UP TO CEILING 0.49 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) FATHER THOMAS KALIA SAYING "It means that after destruction there's also time for reconstruction, and certainly after five years when we have seen all this ceiling coming down, killing also four persons. And now these bits and pieces were put together and are up there again. It means that there is hope even in life that what comes down can also come up again." 1.22 9. CLOSE OF DECORATED VAULTED CEILING 1.27 10. VARIOUS OF HOLY WATER BEING SPRINKLED (IN THE BASILICA AS A BLESSING FOR THE NEWLY RESTORED FRESCO) BY THE HEAD OF THE FRANCISCAN ORDER IN ASSISI FATHER VINCENZO COLI STANDING ALONGSIDE THE HEAD OF THE RESTORATION PROGRAMME GIUSEPPE BASILE (2 SHOTS) 1.52 11. VARIOUS, TILT UP TO RESTORED FRESCO 2.02 12. CLOSE UP OF FACE OF SAINT JEROME 2.09 13. CLOSE UP OF FRESCO 2.16 14. SMV TOURISTS LOOKING UP AT THE CEILING AND POINTING 2.26 15. VARIOUS OF RESTORED VAULTED CEILING AND WINDOW 2.35 16. VARIOUS OF MAN AT COMPUTER USING COMPUTER PROGRAMME TO SHOW HOW FRESCOES WERE RESTORESD (8 SHOTS) 3.10 17. SLV PEOPLE WALKING OVER FULL SIZE COPY OF THE FRESCO FOR RESTORATION 3.17 18. SMV COPY OF ST JEROME FRESCO 3.21 19. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) HEAD OF THE RESTORATION PROGRAMME, GIUSEPPE BASILE (PRONOUNCED Bah-zi-leh), SAYING "I'm very moved, very moved. Because in my line of work, restoration, the putting back together of such fragments isn't to be taken for granted. It can never be taken for granted. It's always something that you have to look at in the light of the finished article." 3.41 20. CLOSE UP OF HANDS WORKING WITH FRAGMENTS OF PAINTED FRESCO IN ST JEROME PAINTING (2 SHOTS) 3.55 21. SMV WOMEN PUTTING TOGETHER FRAGMENTS IN FRESCOE 4.02 (U6) ASSISI, ITALY (FILE) (REUTERS) 22. VARIOUS, EXTERIOR OF BASILICA DURING AFTERSHOCKS FROM QUAKE 4.09 23. VARIOUS , INTERIORS OF DAMAGED BASILICA WITH EMERGENCY CREWS AT WORK 4.16 24. PAN OF DAMAGED VAULT OF BASILICA 4.25 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th October 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: ASSISI, ITALY
- Country: Italy
- Reuters ID: LVA9AARXS2MV8PJ8HS90YUS2IXY1
- Story Text: On the fifth anniversary of the earthquake which
destroyed St Francis Basilica in Assisi, the restoration of
one of the most important frescoes by Giotto has been blessed.
Giotto's 13th century fresco of St Jerome, splintered
into tens of thousands of pieces on September 26, 1997, was
unveiled on Thursday (September 26, 2002) after one of the most
ambitious and painstaking restorations in art history.
The fresco of one of the doctors of the church, which
Giotto is believed to have painted in 1288, ends the second
phase of a three-part restoration of the ceiling of St Francis
Basilica.
Four people, two monks and two technicians, died when the
ceiling fell in a cascade of stone at 11:42 a.m. (0942gmt) on
a group that was inside surveying damage from a first quake
the night before.
It means that after destruction there's also time for
reconstruction, and certainly after five years when we have
seen all this ceiling coming down, killing also four persons.
And now these bits and pieces were put together and are up
there again.
It means that there is hope even in life that what comes
down can also come up again, said Father Thomas Kalia just
before the blessing of the newly restored fresco.
The fresco of St Jerome, a red-bearded figure wearing a
cape and bishops miter, was shattered into some 50,000 pieces.
It fell in one of two ceiling sections that left one of the
wonders of art and architecture mutilated like an amputation
victim.
After the dead were buried and the wounded healed, some
1,500 tonnes of fresco and stone fragments were put in fruit
boxes. They were to become the bits of perhaps the most
complicated and high-tech jigsaw puzzle in history.
The pieces were scanned and electronically catalogued by
size, shape and weight, and, most importantly, shades of
colour.
Then, computers programmed with photographs of the
frescoes taken before the quake helped restorers match
fragment by fragment, shard by shard, splinter by splinter.
"I'm very moved, very moved. Because in my line of work,
restoration, the putting back together of such fragments isn't
to be taken for granted. It can never be taken for granted.
It's always something that you have to look at in the light of
the finished article," said Giuseppe Basile, head of the
restoration programme.
Nearly all of St Jerome's face, including his stern eyes,
and part of his cape, hands and bible, were reconstructed.
The triangular fresco, measuring some 36 square metres on
the rib vault, was first reconstructed on a wood support that
reproduced the curved masonry structure of the ceiling.
Restorers decided not to recreate the entire fresco.
Instead they plastered in the large gaps and painted them with
a neutral colour. Some background geometrical scenes were
repainted.
Thursday's (September 26) inauguration of the
re-positioned Giotto fresco, which took about 100,000 hours to
complete and cost $2.5 million, was the second phase of the
ceiling restoration.
Two smaller frescoes of saints believed to have been
painted by Giottos students were re-positioned on the ceiling
in 1999 when the basilica re-opened after major consolidation
work.
The next involves a fresco by Cimabue which also
collapsed.
Restorers say it will be much more difficult. Unlike
Giotto, Cimabue painted it with fewer and less brilliant
colours, leaving a monochrome that will present new challenges
for them.
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