The Ninth Century crucified, Luka’s Volto Sanato, one of the oldest wooden statues in Europe, has been restored to its original polytheum. In the 17th century, dapped with black and brown colors on garments, then coated with a color wax layer, the personality of Christ and the circular numbers behind it was dim and dark, such as the highest quality colors like Lux Lazoli blue and gold.
For the first time in the crucified 2020 in St. Martin’s Cathedral in Luka, there was a history of radio carbon, thanks to modern technology, which made the samples so small that carrying them was not considered a prejudice for any sacred abuses. The scholars had long believed that its original story was brought to Luka after a miraculous boat journey from the Holy Land in 782, in fact it was a copy of the 12th century that was installed in 1070 in its sanctuary in Cathedral. The results of radio carbon proved that it was closer to reality than the fiction scholarship.
In 2022, experts from the Poly Chrome wooden sculpture rehabilitation of the Afifafi Daily Petry Dore began a complex process of rehabilitation. It began for a year of diagnostic analysis, after which Christ was cautiously eliminated. It was fulfilled without damaging any part, and for the first time exposed, six oak and cedar wooden pins anchored the statue in the cross.
Holy face and legs, including sacred faces, are included. It is carved out of the same log of walnut wood. The head is far more spread from the body, the root of the tree is carved by the trunk. The legs are in line with the plants. Christ has been hollowed out on the back with its full length, such as reducing the thickness of the wooden sculpture and thus reducing the harmful extension of the wood, and the neck of the neck was closed with a wooden lid, which was previously covered with red fabric. The cross was made using two different species of wood: the vertical arm is made of oak wood, while the horizontal arm is made of white spruce.
Once all the parts of the data, cross and numbers were fully accessible, maintenance cars began to remove wax and paint. Tons of Christ’s face and hands came under the brown color, and the incredibly better gold painted decoration under the sleeves. Her hair and beard were almost black to light brown, and her clothing was a blue panty blue of Lapis Lazoli paint. The cross was also Lapis Lazoli Blue, and there was a red border. Another surprise veil was “Alpha and Omega” in Greek.
The most unique elements of the statue recovered from the hands of restores are glass paste eyes. The big, sad, big eyes of Christ were made by remembering Roman glasses. It is the only wooden statue known by the era that has the original glass eyes.
Although dark blue disciples were already visible, the White Scholar was covered by the nineteenth -century zinc white, which has been removed. On the left eye, there was a space of scleros, which was interrupted with resin integration. The intervention made the sight of the sacred face possible to restore its deep expression.
Nimbus (whose dating is still being studied) is around the holy face (about 240 cm in diameter) in the form of a semi -circle, also covered a thick layer of dark color, identified as a changed gum of vegetables. Now it can be praised: There are 14 emerged and stolen silver plates on the support of wood, including 384 extremely severe emerald green and ruby red glass paste jewelry inside the Golden Relief ribs, with four peddle silver flowers in the center. There are two gold copper foil attached to the lower ends.
The restored sacred face was returned to a public exhibition in Cathedral on September 13. It will remain at this location next summer, after which it will be permanently transferred to the “Tempete” (Little Temple), which Matu Soli has in 1484 to display the sacred face, the octgunal chapel, which is currently undergoing its recovery.
