Saving da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'

摘要

Having survived political upheaval, and even bombing during World War II, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper" now faces the risk of damage from air pollution due to its location in one of Western Europe's most polluted cities. In late 2009, the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, where the painting is located, installed a sophisticated heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system to protect the painting from the polluted air of Milan. To test the effectiveness of their pollution countermeasures, Italian officials called on Constantinos Sioutas, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering. For his ongoing research, he has designed unobtrusive air samplers that are compact and quiet.