A violent thunderstorm that hit Rome in the past week has caused water infiltration in the Vatican Museums, causing flooding in the Gregorian Profane section, one of the exhibition spaces that holds a significant part of the ancient sculpture collections. The episode, as reported by the newspaper Il Messaggero, is documented by a video initially circulated among insiders and later circulated outside as well, in which continuous streams of water are observed coming down from the ceiling and pouring directly onto the works.
The images show a situation that escalated within minutes. What initially appeared as a trickle quickly turned into an insistent downpour, coming from multiple points on the roof. The water ran over the exhibition surfaces and some of the sculptures in the room, while staff intervened with makeshift means, using mops and rags in an attempt to contain the flooding and limit water dispersion.
The affected section, the Profane Gregorian, holds Roman and Greek works of considerable historical value. Those involved include a statue attributed to Emperor Tiberius, dated to the first century B.C. and found in Cerveteri in 1840, as well as portraits of Roman senators and porphyry fragments. Despite the visual impact of the event, there are currently no reports of serious damage to the works. However, the level of attention on the possible incidence of such episodes in the long term remains high, especially in relation to the preservation of the stone materials and internal environmental conditions.
Initial hypotheses on the causes of the infiltration point to a possible malfunction of the rainwater disposal systems. Drains and drains may have been clogged or inadequately maintained, favoring the accumulation and subsequent penetration of water inside the exhibition spaces. A dynamic that, if confirmed, would bring back to the center the issue of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of complex structures under intense pressure, both from the climatic point of view and from that of public enjoyment. The episode does not appear to be isolated.
Similar critical issues had already been reported in the past in other areas of the Vatican Museums. As Il Messaggero also reports, in the Sobieski Room patches of moisture had been detected near frescoes, while in the Sala Regia in-depth checks had become necessary after the detachment of fragments of stucco from the vault, which had fallen to the ground following infiltration. A sequence of events that suggests the presence of structural vulnerabilities that have not been fully resolved.
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| Flooding at the Vatican Museums: water on the statues of the Profane Gregorian |
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