Security work began again today on the mosaics of St. Mark's in Venice

Safety work on the floor mosaics of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice resumed today under the authorization of the Prefecture of Venice after being suspended due to the Covid-19 emergency. St. Mark’s Procuratoria restarted the work with compliance with all protocols established to protect the health and safety of workers. The Basilica remains closed to Masses and tourist visits pending regulations on reopenings, but the work, which is to remove salt efflorescence and protect endangered mosaic fragments, began today with a small team of four people working in the Basilica, which will increase to six on Tuesday. More workers will return in the following weeks. The work was necessary after the flooding event that hit Venice on November 12, 2019, also heavily damaging the Basilica, which only in 1966 had been invaded to the levels of last November, and never however with so many repeated extremes: the crypt completely submerged, as well as the narthex and the entire flooring up to the altar of the Madonna Nicopeia.

As for safety protocols, St. Mark’s Procuratorate lets it be known that all the necessary safeguards and operating methods (masks and protective systems, spacing, body temperature control at the entrance, differentiated shifts) have been activated to protect the health of the restorers and ensure maximum safety. The “Mosaic Studio,” which is entrusted with the preservation and restoration of the mosaic mantle, and a team of restorers’ workers for work related to the maintenance of the buildings of the St. Mark’s Procuratorate and its movable property, depend on the direction of the technical services of the Procuratorate .

For the Procuratorate, this is an important signal for the recognition of the necessity and urgency of the interventions of the cultural property, even in the context of the provisions for health protection. “We are particularly happy about this possibility,” says St. Mark’s First Prosecutor, Carlo Alberto Tesserin. “Meanwhile, we can resume the intervention on the mosaic floor, which is the one of greatest concern after the terrible Acqua Alta last November. For the defense of the Basilica from future high waters, there are two major projects planned and partly financed, thanks to the efforts of the Triveneto Provveditorato alle OO PP and the Veneto Region, which has already allocated extraordinary funds to the Procuratorate. These projects involve complex authorization and contracting procedures. Moreover, they are works that largely concern the exterior of the Basilica and therefore do not depend only on us. Inside the Basilica, where we can operate with our employees and collaborators, we felt it was essential to restart as soon as possible.”

“It has been ascertained,” recalls Engineer Pierpaolo Campostrini, St. Mark’s Procurator with responsibility for Technical Services, “that 60 percent of the marble flooring of St. Mark’s Basilica, a flooring over 2,000 square meters, the oldest pieces of which date back to the 11th century, is in need of restoration. We cannot forget that in addition to the extraordinary event on the night of Nov. 12, last year the tides gripped the city from early November until Christmas: the floor mosaics, the brick masonry were under water for days at a time (half the hours of the entire month). The phenomenon of salt corrosion, in the absence of specific interventions, continues inexorably: work must begin immediately with the securing phase, then it will continue for a long time.”

“The salt water that impregnates floors and walls evaporates,” Campostrini continues, “but the salts remain, causing the bricks, marbles and plasters on which the mosaics rest to disintegrate. These are cumulative processes, and the damage increases over time. The uplift phenomena of the mosaic tiles have been significant. Hence the need to restart operations as soon as possible. I believe that this partial resumption of operations is also a good sign for the whole sector of Cultural Heritage, which is a primary asset for our country and must be protected even in the dramatic contingencies we are experiencing.”

In the meantime, the Procuratoria is working to define the procedures to deal with the so-called "phase 2," when it will be possible to reopen to the public with restricted entrances and appropriate measures.

Security work began again today on the mosaics of St. Mark's in Venice

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