Press Release: Governorate of Vatican City State
The Atrium of the Four Gates
Reflections on the restoration of the sculptures
In Vatican City, on Thursday 25 September 2025, at 17.30, in the Conference Hall of the Vatican Museums, the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage will dedicate an event – as part of the Thursday in the Museums series of meetings – to the recent restoration of the ancient sculptures on display in the Atrium of the Four Gates.
Between 2023 and 2024, an important restoration project breathed new life into a group of extraordinary ancient works preserved in the Vatican Museums. Thanks to the generous support of the Florida Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, twelve statues and two sarcophagi with relief decorations, located between the Atrium of the Four Gates and the vestibule at the foot of the Simonetti Staircase, have been restored. The careful cleaning of the marble surfaces not only brought back the original beauty of the works, but also enabled the discovery of traces and details related to the numerous restorations carried out over the centuries, revealing, in some cases, completely unexpected results.
The individual conservation histories and various critical issues manifested by the works dictated the need for work tailored to specific situations, which was skilfully carried out by the Kavaklik Restauro Consortium, under the scientific direction of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities and the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory, in close collaboration with the Cabinet of Scientific Research.
“We reiterate our thanks to the Florida Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts for the valuable contribution to the conservation and restoration plans put forward by the Vatican Museums, with the shared intention of safeguarding the enjoyment and knowledge of an extraordinary heritage”, states Barbara Jatta, highlighting the importance of targeted conservation strategies.
“Coherent strategies, which often pose new challenges for the upkeep of the collections, are undoubtedly necessary to set long-term goals, achievable thanks to professional synergy and the sharing of specialist knowledge in multidisciplinary teams,’ affirms Claudia Valeri.
“It was a very delicate task”, emphasizes Guy Devreux, who aptly describes it as “the restoration of restorations”, due to the difficulty of working on marble surfaces which have undergone multiple interventions of integration, assembly and restoration in modern times, also using different types of materials.
The meeting will be chaired by Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums, with Giandomenico Spinola, Artistic-Scientific Deputy Director, and Msgr. Terence Hogan, Coordinator of the Office of the Patrons of the Arts. Claudia Valeri, Curator of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, will also speak, offering her thoughts on the antiquarian interpretation of classical iconography; Eleonora Ferrazza and Clara di Fazio, Assistants in the same Department, will present the latest findings from documentary research and offer observations on the architectural design of the Atrium. Guy Devreux, Maestro of the Stone Materials Restoration Laboratory, and Kristian Schneider, restorer at the Kavaklik Consortium, will illustrate the techniques used and the various stages of the work.
The meeting will be followed by a guided tour of the Atrium of the Four Gates to admire the renovated appearance of the Roman sculptures.
Contacts
Press Office: stampa.musei@scv.va
Journalists and media operators who wish to attend must apply to the Holy See Press Office via the online accreditation system at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti.
All requests must be received no later than 24 hours before the event.
Participants may enter via the entrance in Viale Vaticano, upon presentation of the invitation, from 17.00 to 17.30.
