The Sistine for the Senses: Michelangelo’s frescoes in sight, smell, and sound now in Manila

MANILA, Philippines — A multisensory experience awaits any and all who visit “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” at the Estancia Mall in Ortigas, Pasig City: a global touring gallery showcasing life-sized reproductions of all 34 iconic Vatican frescoes from the artistic master.

What sets it apart from other galleries, however, is that the Sistine exhibit engages vision, smell, and hearing to transport visitors into the Italian Renaissance era that first saw Michelangelo’s masterpieces.

Sight: Bringing the Sistine Chapel straight to Filipinos

Brought to life by global touring exhibitions producer See Global International, the gallery features true-to-scale photographs of Michelangelo’s 33 Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes finished in 1512, plus “The Last Judgment,” which he finished in 1542.

See Global CEO Martin Biallas shared that one of his desires for the exhibit was to make one of the world’s most iconic artistic masterpieces accessible to the Filipino public, connecting to the nation’s religious, cultural, and artistic roots.

“Coming to the Philippines was always our goal. There are a lot of people that just can’t afford to go to Rome or travel all the way, so this is basically: Rome comes to the Philippines, said Biallas in a Wednesday media interview.

“I understand that the Philippines is a very Catholic country. But again this is not just a Catholic thing— it’s Christian, art, history, it’s for everyone… That’s why I think people should see this. You’re not gonna have another chance anywhere else to see it this close,” he added.

The gallery’s Manila stop marks its first exhibition in Southeast Asia.

In a press conference pre-launching the gallery, Biallas recounted his 2013 Sistine Chapel visit that drove him to produce the exhibit: how the lines were insanely long, how difficult it was to appreciate the frescoes so far from the ceiling, and how the 15 minutes allotted to him were nowhere near enough time to reflect and digest the art.

“I didn’t have enough time to reflect and to really appreciate what I was seeing,” he shared.

This frustration is what pushed him to bring Michelangelo’s frescoes to a different kind of life— one that is financially, logistically, and intellectually accessible to people across the globe.

“I walked out [of the Sistine Chapel,] and the first thing that came to my mind was that if I can get the licensing rights for the reproductions of the frescoes in the original size, I think that would be a really good concept to take on tour,” said Biallas.

“I wanted to have a design where it is affordable to bring it to people… it’s not only the Christian message we have here. It’s also the artistry… I wanted to make sure that I gave this exhibition the biggest platform it can have in the world,” he added, sharing that the entire exhibit of 34 frescoes fits into two large crates for easy transport worldwide.

All the frescoes were reproduced onto decotex, a fabric from Germany that would best honor the detail and grain of the real art, according to Biallas.

“Most difficult part was to find the right material to print these on… Frescoes are painted on wet plaster, and the paint and color blends in and dries so that it looks different than an oil painting, for example,” he elaborated.

Biallas added that the Sistine Chapel exhibition is the only place one can view post-restoration replicas of the original frescoes, sharing that See Global attained an exclusive license to use photographs taken immediately after the restoration of the real paintings in the late 80s.

Including Manila, there are currently nine units of the same exhibit simultaneously touring the world. The exhibit has even found its way into non-Christian countries, shared Biallas, with the Sistine Chapel gallery now opening its doors in Beijing, China.

Smell & sound: Time-travel through Renaissance musk & music

Rose, patchouli, black pepper, fig, and musk: these are among the notes of a 16th-century renaissance church, according to ATIN Scent Marketing founder Sabrina Co.

These are also the scents that greet visitors who walk through the doors of the Sistine Chapel exhibit, courtesy of an event-exclusive scent curated by ATIN.

Co shared that her company’s contribution to the exhibit was to create an olfactory experience that would transport gallery-goers to the Renaissance era itself, bolstering the imaginations and heightening the experience of the exhibit.

The ATIN founder shared that she and her family were actually among the Sistine Chapel exhibit’s first-ever visitors when it opened in Canada in 2015.

Moved by the opportunity to reconnect to her religious roots, she and the Co family then decided they wanted to share the spiritual and educational experience with their home country.

“The Sistine chapel is quite significant [to Filipinos] as it is a religious pinpoint,” she said during the exhibit’s press opening.

Similarly playing on the historical and religious themes of Michelangelo’s frescoes, Marlon Chen of the Manila Symphony Orchestra curated the music for the exhibit, primarily using acapella sacred music in his work.

Chen shared that the term “acapella” itself comes from “a capella Sistina”— which roughly translates to “in the style of the Sistine Chapel.”

This traces back to a rule from the Renaissance period that prohibited instruments inside the Sistine Chapel, permitting only choirs with no accompaniment to create music in the church.

This is the history on which Chen based his work, he shared with the press.

“I curated the musical tracks so that when you enter, you can be embraced by the music that you’re hearing,” he added.

Healthcare and hunger as heaven and hell

“When you see hell in Michelangelo’s painting, maybe you can imagine the kind of hell that people going hungry in the Philippines are experiencing.”

This is the effect that Yoly Crisanto, sustainability, and corporate communications chief of Globe Telecom, wishes the exhibit would have on its visitors.

Globe Telecom is both a supporter and beneficiary of the Sistine Chapel exhibit, as part of the exhibit’s proceeds would go to their Hapag Movement for hunger alleviation.

“We want to be able to put in the hearts of the people the appreciation of great art, but also to use this exhibition as a way to help our fellow kababayan. There are 15 million people in the Philippines going hungry as we speak,” said Crisanto.

The Philippine Red Cross also stands to benefit from the gallery as some of the profit would go to funding blood service facilities in vulnerable areas nationwide.

“In areas where we are not present— these are the sites where we will be establishing our blood facilities. Ubay, Bohol and Marinduque, we’re not really visible in these areas,” said a Red Cross representative at the exhibit’s press launch.

“Through the kind of support of ATIN and through the proceeds of this noble cause, this will help the communities have quick access to blood supply,” they added.

‘Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition’ will run from July 1 to September 30, 2023, in Estancia Mall, Capitol Commons, Ortigas, Pasig City. Adult tickets are priced at P650 and P750 for weekdays and weekends, respectively, subject to the student, PWD, senior citizen, and other discounts.