The marble statue The Abduction of Ganymede without doubt is a work of high artistic and historic value. The piece was carved by a prominent Italian artist Pio Fedi in the second half of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, due to man’s interference and devastating atmospheric agents, marble Ganymede experienced hard times.

Before restoration works began, condition of the object was very bad. The sculpture of a young man was deprived of its head, arms, legs, buttock, as well as large portions of the pedestal. Furthermore, it was fragmented into several parts, in addition, splashed with a thick layer of plaster. The main objective of my conservation and restoration activities was to stop destructive processes and restore a clear form to what remained of the deteriorated statue.

It was a great honour to work on such a high class piece, but also a difficult test of my conservation and restoration skills. I am glad that successful conservation and restoration activities contributed to the fact that the statue – once destroyed, forgotten and stored in a dark cellar – can be admired by us and future generations.