The maces of Palazzo del Bo are shining once again thanks to a very recent restoration

A recent restoration project, supported by BCC Veneta, has returned to us the ceremonial maces that accompany the inauguration ceremony of each new academic year of the University of Padua.

The maces represent one of the University’s most emblematic historical artefacts: their use can be traced as far back as the oldest statutes, which regulated the ways in which these true ceremonial sceptres were to be presented at public events, as well as how they were to be cared for and preserved.

The Universitates of the Jurists and the Artists (as the Studio Patavino had been divided since the fourteenth century) were each represented by their own mace: that of the Artists bore the Redeemer at the top, while that of the Jurists featured St Catherine with the wheel. 

The historic maces were lost in the turbulent years of transition from Venetian to Austrian rule. In 1922, on the occasion of the seven-hundredth anniversary of our University, the artist Eugenio Bellotto was commissioned to create the reproductions of the silver maces, modelled on the design of the historic ones reproduced in Tommasini’s volume.

From then on, and for more than a century, the maces were used in our most important ceremonies: continuous use, together with the passing of time, had however led to a clear dulling of silver’s characteristic shine and to a colour shift towards brownish-black tones. In the case of the Artists’ mace, surmounted by the Redeemer, a clean break was also clearly visible at the ankles of the figure at the top.

The restoration project first involved the removal of all deposits, abrasive paste residues and aged protective coatings. Tests were carried out for the treatment of corrosion products. As for the figure of Christ, new support pins were made.

At the same time as the restoration project, and in collaboration with professionals from the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University, work began on the scanning of the silver maces, their modelling and the creation of 3D reproductions, which may therefore be used in forthcoming ceremonies, as well as for activities to enhance the value of the heritage.