Long-hidden Leonardo mural opens to the public ahead of 2026 Milan Olympics

Summary

Leonardo mural in Milan will briefly open to public during restoration amid 2026 Winter Olympics. Visitors can climb scaffolding to see Sforza Castle’s Sala delle Asse paintings up close for five weeks only. The castle has also opened a new exhibition dedicated to Leonardo’s students and followers. As Milan prepares to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, the city is briefly unlocking access to an elusive Leonardo da Vinci work: a vast, unfinished wall and ceiling painting hidden for centuries inside the Sforza Castle, which is normally concealed behind scaffolding as it undergoes restoration. For just over five weeks, from February 7 to March 14, visitors will be allowed to climb the towering 20-foot scaffold inside the castle’s Sala delle Asse to view conservators at work on Leonardo’s mural, after which it will be sealed off again for another 18 months, making this limited public access a rare opportunity to see it up close mid-restoration. The painting, begun around 1498 and long obscured by plaster, has only recently been re-evaluated as a genuine work by the Renaissance master. According to historic letters from the Duke of Milan Ludovico Sforza, the room was painted in 1498 by Leonardo and his workshop, who sumptuously decorated its walls and domed ceiling with designs of intertwining vines over a pergola, a canopy created by 16 trees, and monochromes of roots and rocks. However, in 1499, Milan was seized by France, causing Sforza—and the artist—to flee. For the next several centuries, the castle was used for military purposes and the walls of the Sala delle Asse were painted over, the memory of the painting lost. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that traces of the original paint were found. Subsequent restoration efforts throughout the 20th century revealed the mural in full, but its tempera paint remains fragile. Restorers are now using Japanese rice paper with demineralized water to remove salts that have seeped into the walls to clean the surface of the pa...