The details of beauty. The restorations of Gio Ponti’s furnishings in Palazzo Bo are completed.
11.02.2022
The University “restores 500 priceless objects.”The completed work includes the restorations of the wooden cladding of the Aula Magna (wall panels, steps, and podium) and the reupholstering of the great hall’s nineteenth-century seating. Also within the Palazzo Bo, wooden flooring of six rooms, the handrail of the Scala del Sapere, and an array of benches, chairs, sofas, tables, desks, doors, wardrobes, umbrella stands, and coat hangers all designed by Gio Ponti were restored.
The "catalogue of restoration" is comprised of the décor and furnishings that define the artistic heritage conceived by the Milanese architect and designer Gio Ponti.The skilled conservators restored the priceless wooden podium used by Galileo and completed the static revisions and contextual cleaning of the coats of arms found in the Aula Magna.
"More than mere restorations, the completed work has allowed us to rediscover the original splendour of Gio Ponti's furnishings and décor. The work completed in reviving the identity of our University comes as no surprise as we enter into the same year celebrating 800 years of our history, says University of Padua Rector Daniela. I would like to thank all those who contributed to these exceptional results, producing an extraordinary amount of work by a team focused on a common theme: history. The completed work included philological restorations, as the University holds a rich archive of documentation on each object, allowing the team to meticulous re-examine the details of its beauty. In some cases, the restoration work uncovered particular and unknown aspects of some furnishing elements. Notably, the work concluded without interrupting access to the rooms and deterring the flow of visits and tours. Guaranteeing that Palazzo Bo, the heart of the University of Padua, remains more alive and vibrant today than ever before.”
The restoration project is a unique case in Italy due to the complexity of materials and the location of each space. Thanks to the access of photos from the cataloguing project of the Bo Archives, conservators were able to compare materials from the past, bringing to light the details and beauty of each room.
The restoration of the furnishings and décor were carried out under the l’Alta Sorveglianza della Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’area metropolitana di Venezia e le province di Belluno, Padova e Treviso.
