Mangaluru: The restored paintings of St. Aloysius Chapel and the renovated college museum ‘Aloyseum’ was formally inaugurated at the St. Aloysius College on Saturday, February 16.
Principal Director, INTACH Conservation Institutes (ICI), Art and Material Heritage Division, New Delhi, Nilabh Sinha unveiled the commemorative plaque and Silvana Rizzi from Milan, Italy, the great grandniece of the painter Antonio Moscheni inaugurated the renovated college museum Aloyseum.
Dr. Francis Serrao SJ, Bishop of Shivamogga blessed the chapel and museum and said that the contribution of the paintings to the Aloysius Chapel is enormous. “The contemplation of Jesus and his saints by Anthonio Moscheni is not only in this church but is around the world. As the paintings of this chapel are very attractive, thousands of tourists witness this painting”, he said.
Meanwhile, a felicitation programme was held for Nilabh Sinha and Silvana Rizzi.
For relentlessly working on the restoration and renovation, Fr. Christopher Vaz, Micheal Cuntinha, Ray Saldanha, James David, John Chandran, Fr. Prashanth Madtha, Gilbert Sequeira, Gopal Gowda and Kavitha were honoured on the same occasion.
Nilabh Sinha, while addressing the gathering expressed pleasure over the paintings. “I was thrilled after seeing these paintings. We had to do documentation work to understand the art. This is restoration of art through science and I am fortunate enough to have been a part of this restoration work.”
Fr. Dionysius Vaz , Rector of St. Aloysius College welcomed the gathering and Reema Fernandes compered the programme.
