On Monday, May 26, a restoration project will begin on the wooden components of the 8-inch Merz refractor, the historic telescope used from 1875 by Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli for his observations of double stars, Mars, and other bodies in the Solar System. The telescope is currently on display in its original dome on the rooftops of Palazzo Brera. The restoration will be carried out by Francesco Carraffa and Francesco Fedeli, two experts in the field who trained in the restoration of wooden artifacts and structures at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts (under Professor Luca Quartana), and it will last approximately ten days.
The intervention became necessary due to damage caused by a series of severe storms that struck the city of Milan starting in July 2023, resulting in water infiltration inside the dome, which also affected the telescope. An initial urgent intervention (completed in the fall of 2023) focused on reinforcing the metal roof of the dome and restoring its waterproofing to prevent further damage. Following the current restoration of the telescope, it will also be necessary to work on the supporting structures and window frames of the dome itself, which were also damaged by the exceptionally severe weather events of the past two years.
