in Florence, the astonishing images of the toilet of Michelangelo’s “David”

This bimonthly maintenance, which lasts one day and is carried out by a specialized restorer, also makes it possible to check the condition of this marble giant.

Even one of the most famous statues in the world, a symbol of the city of Florence and the Renaissance, cannot escape dust. Every two months, the weekly closing day of the Academy Gallery is used for a complete cleaning of the David by Michelangelo. And it takes a day to completely clean this 5.17 meter high marble giant, including the base.

On a mobile scaffolding six meters high, it is a small piece of a woman, the size of a shin David, who is the only one who can approach the sculpture: Eleonora Pucci, restorer and specialist in stone works. For cleaning, no water, no product or latest technology either: even it cannot touch the Carrara marble in which the man symbol of virile beauty was sculpted. “It starts at the top, using very soft brushes with synthetic bristles, which attract dust. The dust is then absorbed by a vacuum cleaner, without it touching the marble”, describes Cecilie Hollberg, the director of the Academy Gallery. A vacuum cleaner that the restaurateur carries like a backpack, on her shoulders.

Dust carried by visitors

It is the hair of David which requires the most time. More impurities – even a few small cobwebs – slip into the young man’s curls than on the smooth parts. However, it has been more than 150 years since David is no longer in the open air. The statue that we see on Piazza della Signoria, a stone’s throw from Ponte Vecchio, in Florence, is a copy. It was in 1873 that the original of the slingshot man was transferred to the Academy Gallery, built for him and even around him. A glass roof highlights its perfect curves.

But then, where does this dust come from? “It is the museum visitors who carry this dust with them. In 2023 we had more than two millions of people, each of whom carries even a small amount of dirt”, explains Cecilie Hollberg. Between 3,500 and 10,000 people come to admire this marble colossus every day. Site monitoring also involves temperature and humidity sensors.

“The pace of cleaning every two months seemed to be the right one for us, depending on the number of visitors. And since we have a new air conditioning system, with new filters, we have much less dust.”

Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Accademia Gallery of Florence

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The toilet finally provides the opportunity for a very careful examination of the sculpture. Elenora multiplies the photos which she will compare with those taken during the previous cleaning. The slightest trace of porosity or fragility in the marble is tracked, particularly at the ankles. David, even though he has impeccable abs, still weighs more than five tons. And the unique block of marble in which it was sculpted had some defects, it was not Michelangelo himself who had chosen it. But the director of the Academy assures us: at more than 500 years old, David seems the perfect young man that he has symbolized since the Renaissance.