May 31, 2024

Dear Friends of the Cathedral Heritage Foundation,

We will be sharing two gifts with you, and the public, this summer that have been donated to the Foundation .

A large walnut display table with a glass cover made by craftsman Willy Wuollet will hold the Sistine Chapel Trilogy books for a special three month exhibit. It opens this weekend in the main church area.

You may remember Mr. Wuollet's name from earlier projects. He built the wooden desk that serves as both a tour and security check-in area. And he also made a new curved bench to serve as a gathering spot for clergy in the sacristy during the 2019 renovations. We have CHF Curator Dr. John A. Dowdle to thank for the new display case! And for the Sistine Chapel Trilogy, we are indebted to an anonymous donor. Thank you both for your generosity.

Below, we share an article written by Cathedral Archivist Barbara Sommer and her graduate student assistant Michaela Peine, an enrollee in the University of St. Thomas Museum Studies Certificate program.

Enjoy!

Cathedral Heritage Foundation Board of Curators

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti 

1475-1564

Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet 

The Sistine Chapel Trilogy will be on exhibit near St. Joseph's Chapel.

Click on this 5-minute video to learn how the photographer captured these rare, high definition images for the three volume series.

Living Images: A Conversation Between the Sistine Chapel and the Cathedral of Saint Paul

( Click HERE for the full history produced by the Cathedral's Archive team. We have shared a synopsis below.)

The walls of the Sistine Chapel were painted by several of the leading artists of the late 15^th century including Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, and Pietro Perugino. In 1508, Pope Julius brought in Michelangelo (1475-1564) to paint the ceiling. Michelangelo was a well-known sculptor, having completed the statues of David and the Pieta – a reproduction of which is in this Cathedral’s Founders’ Chapel. Over a four-year period during which he worked on scaffolding, Michelangelo produced a masterpiece.

In 2019, Callaway, based in New York City, working with the Vatican Museums and the Italian art publisher, Scripta Maneant of Bologna, Italy, published an over-sized three-volume set of books featuring ultra-high-end resolution digital photography of the artwork of the Sistine Chapel. Through a generous donation to the Cathedral Heritage Foundation, we can make the books available to visitors.

The titles include:

• The Sistine Chapel: Volume I. The Frescoes of the 15^th Century
• Volume II. The Ceiling
• Volume III. The Last Judgement

The books will be on display in the Cathedral near the Chapel of St. Joseph, one book a month, from June through August 2024. By reading the accompanying stories posted with the exhibit, visitors will be encouraged to reflect on the magnificent artwork and connections to the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

Barbara W. Sommer, Archivist, Cathedral of Saint Paul

Michaela Peine, Archivist’s Aide and Exhibit Curator, Cathedral of Saint Paul