Monreale Cathedral, mosaic restoration begins

Start of the restoration of the mosaics of Monreale Cathedral, necessary to eliminate damage caused by water infiltration. The Sicilian Region yesterday morning handed over restoration work on the decorated surfaces of the church of Santa Maria la Nuova (the Cathedral of Monreale), one of Sicily’s most precious monumental assets, part of the Arab-Norman itinerary that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The interventions, according to the project drawn up by the Palermo Superintendency of Cultural Heritage, are financed with resources from the Development and Cohesion Plan - Pact for Sicily, amounting to 1.1 million euros, will be carried out by the Venice-based company Lares srl and will last 270 days.

The project aims to repair internal damage, mainly on the mosaics, caused by water infiltration in past years, a problem that was remedied with extraordinary maintenance work on the roofs.

In particular, the intervention includes the installation of scaffolding to allow inspection over the entire presbytery area in order to check the general condition of the mosaic surfaces that have obvious problems in the areas close to the eave line. Then, to improve the natural air exchange system, which is compromised by the negative effects of condensation humidity due to the considerable flow of visitors, there will be an intervention on the existing openings.

Monreale Cathedral, mosaic restoration begins

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