Saving Restorations

The charming town of Arezzo lies in the region of Tuscany, Italy. Here, the Renaissance church of San Francesco has beautiful frescoes in the large domed space behind the altarpiece, Christ on the Cross. The frescoes were painted by Piero della Francesca, one of the great Renaissance masters.

Some years ago, the frescoes required restoration as humidity had seeped into the paintings, causing cracks and whitening of colours and so they were protected with great care. But that was not all. In Italy, everything undergoes a system of ‘Save, Protect, Profit, Publicise’.

The restoration has protected the church firstly, by stabilising the structure of the church and by ensuring that no further leakage occurs. Secondly, the public was sensitised to not only how the conservation was done but also the beauty of these paintings and hence the need to look after them. Sloping gangways had been erected all along the way up to the painted domed ceiling for the conservation work. These are now used for guided tours (in different languages) for close viewing. It was indeed marvellous to see the frescoes from such close proximity, understand the work of a master and also realise how his work has been saved.

This is where the word ‘publicise’ comes into operation. The numerous small towns around Arezzo displayed posters about what was happening at the San Francesco church and the media lent importance to it. Italians and foreign tourists arrived, excited and curious. And then ‘profit’ struck, with visitor fees. Thus the church receives financial aid for conservation and maintenance.

There is a lot to learn from this. We treat every marvellous creation of God or man like a golden goose that will continue to lay golden eggs even when starved to death or ill-treated. We are obsessed by tourism’s monetary benefits and yet, we do not realise that we need to first save and protect our heritage and then think of tourism. So great is our greed to earn money that we do not mind what we destroy. Beautiful, gentle dolphins living in Orissa’s Chilka Lake are being killed because of the tourist boats plying on the waters. In short, we can sacrifice anything for tourism. Love your heritage; protect it and then make it lay lovely golden eggs for you.