Dust is collecting on David鈥檚 marble muscles just months after the statue was given a controversial clean. But rather than risk washing Michelangelo鈥檚 delicate masterpiece with water again, the museum that houses the 500-year-old sculpture may bathe it with air.
The millions of people who visit the Accademia gallery in Florence, Italy, each year carry dirt and grime from the city鈥檚 streets into the museum鈥檚 halls. This wafts around inside, settling on the statues. Chemicals in the dust could damage the marble from which David is carved.
Since David鈥檚 last spruce-up, completed in May 2004, new grime has been particularly obvious on his freshly buffed curves. 鈥淚t was very clean, so this new deposition was very evident,鈥� says Livio de Santoli of La Sapienza University in Rome, an expert in air-conditioning systems for art galleries and museums.
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He has designed an air-conditioning unit to be installed beneath the base of the statue that would keep the dust at bay by gently blowing filtered air over David鈥檚 nude form. Before it can be deployed in the gallery, however, de Santoli says he will need to test the system on a replica statue.
