Overview
- The fresco is covered by a scaffold for in-situ work, and visitors still enter the chapel where a large fabric reproduction stands in place of the hidden original.
- Restoration teams of roughly 20 to 30 specialists are working daily with completion targeted before Easter after press tours documented the start.
- Conservators apply deionized or distilled water through double layers of Japanese paper to draw out the salt without adhesives or mechanical abrasion.
- Vatican scientists report the whitish patina is superficial, the painted surface is unharmed, and color contrasts return as the layer is removed.
- Officials attribute the buildup to visitor respiration and rising temperatures and say steps have been taken to limit how many people are inside at once.