HOLY MARY OF GRACE - THE LAST SUPPER, The Last Supper - Restoration

As should be clear by now, the fact that we can still admire the Last Supper is practically a miracle: the painting was blackened by the smoke of the friars' kitchen for decades, and during the Napoleonic occupation the room had even become a stable for soldiers' horses. What's more, the refectory was gutted by bombs in the Second World War, and the painting was exposed to rain and bad weather for months: the only reason it didn't collapse was thanks to a chance scaffolding created by sand bags!

To try to restore it as close as possible to its original, the Last Supper has been passed over and restored at least seven times over the centuries. Just think, the last restoration took about twenty years!

The surface has been carefully cleaned, fragment by fragment. In addition to dust and atmospheric dirt, past touch-ups were also removed. The room has been equipped with air filtration systems and special dust absorption systems, and the number of visitors is strictly limited. The aspect that will probably surprise you most is that the painting seems to have become much brighter! The light pouring in over the three windows behind Christ seems not only to flow over the painted figures, but also over visitors....