Published on:
30 Oct 2014
Feature image:
The artistic brilliance of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes are often said to take one's breath away. An instinctive act of reverence for time-tested talent—but, in reality, the simple act of breathing, exhaling carbon dioxide, by the Chapel’s six million annual visitors has been contaminating, and deteriorating, the frescoes. The problem became so severe that the Vatican considered closing the chapel to the public.