Traveling exhibition brings replicas of Michelangelo's famous works to Circle Centre Mall

When in Circle Centre Mall, do as the Romans do: admire the frescos Michelangelo painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

One no longer has to be in Vatican City to see the historic pieces of art, thanks to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition, which opened Friday, which brings the frescos up-close and personal. For the past seven years, the exhibit has traveled across North America and is finally touching down in Indianapolis.

Accompanied with lush, orchestral music, a red carpet weaves the way between all 34 frescos and the white pillars that, while part of the architecture of the exhibit's predecessor, Carson's, add to the feeling of navigating a pristine art museum.

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Images of the iconic frescos — images painted directly onto plaster — were taken with high-resolution photography and placed on canvas by a technique called GeckoTek.

Business Development Manager Sylvia Noland told IndyStar the artwork appears exactly as Michelangelo painted it.

“When you’re up close, you see the cracks, you can see the brushstrokes, you see everything that Michelangelo did,” Noland said. “This is exactly his work.”

The exhibit came about after SEE Global Entertainment CEO Martin Biallas visited the Sistine Chapel only to wait in line for two hours and spend merely minutes inside.

Biallas decided there should be a way people could see Michelangelo’s work up-close, in addition to learning some of the story behind each piece.

Story continues below the gallery.

“This exhibition gives visitors a chance to engage with Rome’s most iconic treasures in ways that were never possible,” Biallas said in a written statement.

There are 34 near-life-size pieces of Michelangelo’s work on display — 33 of the frescos he did on the chapel’s interior over the course of five years, and “The Last Judgment,” a sprawling, 400-character piece of art that, in the Vatican City chapel, covers the entire altar wall.

At each fresco, there is a placard that shows where that particular painting is on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.

Noland said this exhibit is special because one would not have the opportunity to see the intricacies of each fresco in Vatican City, where they look postage stamp-sized from every available vantage point.

And, unlike Vatican City, visitors can take as many photos as they please, so long as they abstain from using flash.

“Art is an amazing thing,” Noland said. “This is one of the highest acclaimed artistic achievements in mankind … and to see it up close, it’s great.”

How it works

The Sistine Chapel exhibit is a self-guided tour through 10,000 square feet of artwork.

In addition to the placards, Noland said there is an audio guide that tells the listener exactly who is in each painting, why Michelangelo painted them and what their historical significance is.

The guide for each painting is available on an app, which can be downloaded upon entry, but a QR code on each placard allows for individual scanning, as well.

The audio guide is an hour-and-a-half in its entirety.

Additionally, upon entry, there is a 20-minute, animated Michelangelo cartoon video, created by Nathan Heck, that provides fun facts about the yearslong process of creating the frescos.

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Why Circle Centre Mall?

Noland, who selects the venues for the exhibit in each state, said she was very excited to bring a piece of Vatican City to Circle Centre Mall.

Initially, the exhibit was actually supposed to open earlier this year, but had to be delayed after the recognition of some ceiling drop-downs that were not accounted for in the site inspection.

There are two units of art for the exhibit — a large and a small one — and while the large unit was initially brought to the mall, not all of the pieces would have been able to fit in the space permitted by the ceiling height.

Noland said since they were not just going to bring some of the frescos, the smaller unit had to finish its run in another city before it could be brought to Indianapolis.

“The Sistine Chapel is an inspiring and unforgettable experience and bringing a small piece of that to Downtown Indianapolis is something we are really proud of,” Circle Centre Retail Marketing Manager Sarah Grannan said in a written statement.

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Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition — If you go

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition runs from July 8-Aug. 28 in the former Carson’s store in Circle Centre Mall. Entry to the exhibit is located at 1 W. Washington St. and is accessed from the mall's exterior.

The exhibition is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets start at $19.20 for adults and $13.40 for children. Discounts for seniors, students and veterans and family bundles are available.

For more information, visit chapelsistine.com/exhibits/indianapolis.

You can reach Pulliam Fellow Griffin Wiles at GWiles@gannett.com or on Twitter at @griffinwiles. 

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Sistine Chapel exhibition comes to Indianapolis at Circle Centre Mall