Posted June 13, 2018 08:12:56The Italian marble walls at the Vatican are in such disrepair that they are now the subject of a new mural.
The mural by local artist Gabriele Cagliari shows a group of people wearing colorful, white, and blue marble tiles from the late 20th century.
It is one of a number of works that will be featured at the new Vatican Center of Culture and Science next year.
It’s a project that has been in the works for several years, but now has its official unveiling in Rome.
The work was commissioned by the Vatican and is meant to honor the memory of the victims of the 1995 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Cagliaro, who is also the director of the Vatican Museums of Modern Art, says the work is about the victims, their families, and the entire people of Italy.
“It is an attempt to honor their memory, their loss, and their struggle for survival in a new and uncertain world,” Cagciari told the Associated Press.
He added that it will show people the beauty of the marble walls and how they are made.
The Vatican has a total of 7,000 marble walls, according to a 2016 report by the Pew Research Center.
The church is a part of the sprawling, historic Vatican complex that was founded in 1858.
The walls were originally built as part of a larger project to build a new basilica.
Since then, the Vatican has installed thousands of new mosaics and paintings to honor victims of past and future disasters.
Cagyliari said the mural was created as a way to show people how the marble is made.
“The marble was created with the help of people from the outside world, so we wanted to bring it to the Vatican to make it part of history,” he said.
The project will be funded by the Italian government, and is part of Pope Francis’ “New Dawn” initiative to make the Vatican more open to the outside.
The pope recently unveiled a $3.7 billion building to celebrate the centenary of the papacy.
