For whatever reason, the Vatican is commemorating the 41st anniversary of the attack on Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture, which was vandalized by hammer-wielding madman Laszlo Toth, who believed he was Christ. From Reuters: 

The statue is so lifelike that a viewer can almost feel the curls of the dead Christ’s hair and the softness of the Madonna’s lips.

The veins in Christ’s muscular arms seem to be still holding blood. The folds in the Madonna’s veil seem made of muslin rather than marble.

When art historian Giorgio Vasari saw the statue in 1550 he wrote in his book about the lives of artists.

“It is a miracle that a rock, which before was without form, can take on such perfection that even nature sometimes struggles to create in the flesh.”

After the attack, some art historians and restorers wanted the statue to remain as it was damaged as a sign of the violent times. Others said it should be restored but with clear marks delineating the damaged parts as a historical testament.

The Vatican instead decided on what is known as an “integral restoration,” one that would not leave any traces of the intervention visible to the naked eye.

“With any other statue, leaving the wounds (of the attack) visible, however painful, could have been tolerated,” said Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums.

“But not with the Pieta, not this miracle of art,” he said.•

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Fuzzy footage of the attack, and some of the restoration.