From August 25 to September 1, the ninth edition of the Kastellorizo International Documentary Festival, themed Beyond Borders, takes place, with the documentary “Sala 5 – Raphael’s Cartoon,” produced by The Blink Fish and directed by Stefano Santamato, selected for the festival. The film focuses on Stefano Boeri Architetti’s project for the Raphael’s Cartoon Room at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan.
The short film, which premieres on July 30, crosses the threshold of the museum’s imposing entrance to reveal a precious and unique work of art: the “Cartone di Raffaello,” an immense preparatory drawing for The School of Athens, a fresco created by Raphael Sanzio for the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palaces (now the Vatican Museums).
The new display for Raphael’s masterpiece, completed by Stefano Boeri Architetti in 2019, retains elements of continuity with previous setups by Luigi Caccia Dominioni from the 1960s and Griffini from the 1990s, such as the placement of the Cartoon on the West wall and a filter wall before reaching the artwork, while radically altering the ways in which the piece is perceived.
At the end of the lengthy restoration—coordinated by a prestigious Scientific Committee composed of the Collegio dei Dottori of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, experts from the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro, the Vatican Museums, the Milan Soprintendenza, and the Centro Conservazione e Restauro “La Venaria Reale”—the masterpiece was placed in a new display case featuring an imposing protective glass panel of the same dimensions as the artwork itself (8 meters wide by 3 meters high, covering a total area of 24 square meters), achieving the distinction of being the largest single-panel showcase in the world.
For more information: https://beyondborders.gr/documentaries/micro/sala-5/