Gargoyle
Official Cafe Stone Carver
Before and after photos of the restoration of the Bentley and Whitehead memorials by Lorenzo Orengo
A few years ago I posted here about the sculptures at Staglieno Cemetery in Genoa, Italy. I'd like to give you an update.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Staglieno, it is the largest outdoor museum in Europe and houses the finest collection of late 19th and early 20th century Italian marble sculpture. You'll find thousands of incredible marble carvings within its walls.
Staglieno and the sculptures within suffer greatly from neglect and deterioration. Pollution, moss and mildew, bird droppings, and 100 years of accumulation of dust and dirt, along with disinterest on the part of the heirs of those interred, there all contribute to the problems. The city and province have some very good, dedicated officials who love and understand the treasures they oversee, but who lack the resources to properly preserve them.
I've established a non-profit supporting restoration of these sculptures. Thanks to our donors, we have been able to sponsor five of the sculptures; four have been restored, and the fifth should be finished in the next couple of weeks. The before to after changes are remarkable and heart warming. This work stopped the degradation, reversed some of the damage, and helps them survive into the future.
We're getting ready to launch a complete overhaul of our website, http://staglieno.com, so at the moment it doesn't show the very latest restorations. The new site should be up before July 4th, but in the meantime please visit our facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/StaglienoSculpture
I have quite a number of photos up there, and am adding more all the time, so if you "Like" the page you'll see the new ones in your news feed. And please share the photos with your friends and invite them to the page. While restoring five sculptures is a great start, it's only a drop in the bucket- the more people become aware of the cemetery and of our work, the more the momentum will increase to save these stunning sculptures.
Last edited: