From today the cathedral closes its doors to worship and visitors, many of whom have been in recent days. Work begins on the opening of the new glass windows which will increase the surface area of the mosaic ‘carpets’ that can be seen. It goes from the current 160 square meters to just over 200. This work was financed by the Scavolini Foundation and will be physically carried out by Renco technicians. The estimated time to complete the work is one month which will, if all goes well, arrive in early June. The liturgical celebrations, during this period of time, will take place in the churches of Santa Lucia, via Passeri, and San Giuseppe, in via Spada.
Through this operation the vision of the large ‘window’ which is on the central nave of the church should be broadened and therefore two other points should be opened: one to highlight the Trojan ship and then another on the opposite front which will instead show the second mosaic, the oldest one dating back to the 6th century.
An official from the Ancona Superintendency who has approved the entire project will follow the work step by step.
This operation, which first led to a cleaning of the mosaic carpets, also includes new LED lighting to allow the faithful and also tourists to better observe both the figures they represent and also the colors of the compositions. At the same time, studies on the origins and layout of the church were also started. This is because it was hypothesized in the first phase of the late 1990s that the extension of the mosaics would be even wider, so much so that it touched Via Rossini and therefore under the entire churchyard, where, among other things, a trap door was also opened.
This research work with further in-depth analysis will almost certainly give rise to targeted publications also through the use of the latest generation technologies at the service of cultural heritage. Among other things, a film was also made, using a drone, by the artistic heritage unit of the Ancona Carabinieri, so it will be possible to see all 900 square meters of mosaic. No work had been carried out inside the Cathedral since the end of the 1990s, since, after the bitter conflicts within the Superintendency, the then bishop Bagnasco decided to proceed by giving way to the work on the current flooring with the current 160 square meters of glass windows, a vision that will be expanded by another 42 square meters.
The cathedral has been much visited in recent days because many tourists accompanied by guides have gone inside to see the mosaics but also to observe the fresco at the end of the left nave which is attributed to the hand of Giovanni Santi, the Raphael’s father. And according to some scholars, in some sections there would also be the hand of the divine painter who was 15 years old at the time.
