Composite Half-Armors

Description

Included among the works that make up the Historical Collections in the Vatican Museums is a conspicuously large number of weapons and armor dating from the mid-1500s to the end of the 1800s. Among the armor, in addition to the large amount traditionally regarded as that belonging to Pope Julius II, there is a series of pieces that for a long time were used by the Swiss Guard. These were on display until the 1960s in the Hall of the Pontiffs of the Borgia Apartments. 

For fifty years they were hidden in storage. Now it is time for some of these treasures to be exposed anew, that they might receive once again the admiration of the many Museum visitors and, in turn, share with these admirers their historic legacy.

The exhibition project that would occupy part of the Sacred Apostolic Palaces means that a certain number of breastplates were chosen to undergo restoration in the laboratory dedicated to metals and ceramics. Upon restorative completion, the breastplates will constitute a splendidly, the wide-arrayed framework of magnificent armor from the procession of Julius II from the tournament with the Constable Colonna.