Michelangelo's chapel in Florence restored with help from bacteria

Modern problems require modern solution is a catchphrase used in many memes but ingenuity of scientists and artists sometimes makes us believe the urban adage.

When one says the word 'bacteria' it generally elicits a negative sentiment. Armies of bacteria are ever ready to make us sick. But not all bacteria are bad. We are not talking about good bacteria that reside in our gut helping us digest food and all that but some other bacteria.

A truly bright idea allowed scientists to successfully restore a medieval masterpiece in Florence, Italy. The artist is none other than Michelangelo, the master of renaissance years.

The master created a chapel for the powerful Medici family in medieval Italy. The year was 1520. Passage of time meant that the chapel and the tomb of members of Medici family accumulated dirt and grime that was hard to clean.

Scientists thought of a novel approach to tackle this problem. They tested 11 strains (types) of bacteria for their effect on marble and selected a few from among them.

The strains that were selected were Serratia ficaria SH7, Pseudomonas stutzeri CONC11 and Rhodococcus sp. ZONT

Selecting the bacteria was an important task as it was absolutely necessary to ensure that the bacteria only cleaned the dirt and didn't cause any harm/ degrade the marble of which the invaluable artwork was made.

Bit it was observed that the carefully selected bacteria did the job they were expected to do.

Funnily enough, bacteria names Serratia ficaria causes urinary tract infection. But it was observed that it cleaned the marble within two days. The strains of bacteria were applied to the artwork in the form of a gel.

The chapel was presented to the public on 545th birth anniversary of Michelangelo.