Arizona republican., 1918-03-05
WORKS 0F ART ARE PROTECTED ID FULL
 EXTENT IF SCIENCE

ROME, Feb. b. Correspondence the Associated Press.)-The most com- plete effort to protect works of art from damage and destruction the world has ever seen, so it is stated has just been finished by Italy's Depart ment of Antiques and Fine Arts, the head of which is Dorado Ricci.
 The aviation raids of the Austrians in the early part of the war proved so harmful that the effort has not been limited to putting underground or in bomb-proof storehouseS Italy's treas ures of paintings and sculptures, but it has also been attempted to protect cathedrals, palaces and museums in every city of Italy by erecting bomb- proof structures above or outside the finer portions of such buildings.
 It is estimated that no less than million sacks of sand have been used in this work and that no less than ten thousand temporary wooden frame structures of every size have been erected in the various cities and dis tricts where necessary.
 | It is also stated that the deliberate bambarding of the Church of St. Any thon at Padua, for hundreds of years Mecca for Catholics throughout the world, tends to prove how little will be
 the consideration shown to St. Peters | SiiuiNH dliu tlt NdllCd0 DdldCe Tn
 Rome, where dwells Pope Benedict, should Austrian aviators succeed in
 reaching Rome.
 So far there has been no effort, how
 ever, by the pope or the rulers of the Vatican to protect the Sistine chapel or
 any other of the Vatican museums.
 filled with many of the worlds most
 valuable paintings, frescoes, bronzes and sculptures
 Many of Romes treasures on the Capltoline hill and elswhere have been
 snleided or stored in bomb proof loca-
 tons, either in Rome itself or in secret
 places in the south of Italy as has been
 tne case with many works of art of
 North Italy. The vast protective work
 undertaken in Venice three years ago
 by Ugo Ojetti has been practically du-
 plicated all over Italy.
 The wall painting of the Last Sup-
 per- by Leonardo di Vinci in the
 Church of Our Lady of Grace, at Milan.
 more famous even than the painting l on the subject by Roselli in the Sistine cnapel of the Vatican, both of which paintings have been widely reproduced tnroughout the world, has been pro- tected in the most careful manner. i; IL Is not argued that high explosive pomb falling directly upon this space would not lnJure the painting, in view or sad experience elsewhere but if ia peneVed the painting would be protect-
 ca rom light bombs or ones falling in- l directly. -" The treatment of this painting is typlcaI of what has been done in hun
 uIeos or cases at Padua, at Verona, at bologna, at Florence, at Ravenna and
 eiseWhefe With treasures whose names nave been household words. Many
 bronze or marble statues have simply been covered up, as with the gigantic 7 marble "David' of Michael Angelo. ir the Academy gallery at Florence and | the trlamphal arch of Trajan. at An a coma. on the Adriatic sea. an arch T some 75 feet high
 l To protect the mosaic work pre-
 served in the tomb of the Roman em-
 press Gala Placidia. at Ravenna, a [, new building was placed about the Il .onb so that now the tomb is a build , Ing within a building The famous , Assumption" by Correggio. painted
 on the ceiling of the dome of the
 cathedral at Parma has been secured 2 rom danger, 1t is thought, by the ar , rangement of series of 600 sand sacks
 Tn circular form under the roof of the oome. with an ingenious set of wooden !. rafters to relieve the strain from the priceless ceiling
 AS church altarS always contain the Il 1ihest and most elaborate paintings anf > mural decorations, great care has beer }: : taken to shield them. as in the case ot the great altar of St. Anthony's churcl
 at Padua, by Donatello. Here man,
 hundreds of sand sacks were piled mn
 and in addition many hundreds n 'SS yards of mattresses filled with sawdus u hung on scaffolds reaching up to th, ,t t ceiling. There is not a valuable alta # Tn all of north of central Italy whicl iiI ;I has not likewise is covering of sack
 and mattresses. In the same manna ,e fronts of churches remarkable for thei ,e marble and bronze decorations hay " been cared for.
 A The only reason that will keen th ,- Austro Germans from attempting f
 destroy art works said Ugo Oietti re to gently, is the hope that some day tbe ,e may be able to steal them. Alread Q Tn the imperial museum and the imne le riai academy at Vienna are twenty le i've paintings of Titan and fifteen o
 Tfntoretto.'' st --o-
 of Do not walt till tomorrow-phon
 that WANT AID. to Tic Republiear to and dispose of or get what won wan