The Restoration Project of Mural Paintings in the Basilica di Santa Croce

The Restoration Project of Mural Paintings in the Basilica di Santa Croce, World Heritage Site and one of the three major churches in Florence, Italy, is the first international joint project that a Japanese national university got involved with in the field of artwork restoration. Kanazawa University launched the project in 2004 with the Laboratory of Restoration in Florence (Opificio delle Pietre Dure di Firenze) and Santa Croce Church (Opera di Santa Croce) as a five-year joint project under the project director, Prof. Takaharu Miyashita of College of Human and Social Sciences. A series of fresco mural paintings at the end of the 14th century, “Tale of the Holy Cross” by Agnolo Gaddi, one of the largest in Italy (820㎡), were diagnosed and analyzed with the latest technology. The findings have brought a new insight into their positioning in art history and iconography. Based on the achievements in this project, Research Center of Italian Mural Paintings was set up in College of Human and Social Sciences in April, 2010, funded by FY 2010 special expenditure of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.