Who was the chief restorer of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the 1980s?

The chief restorer of the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the 1980s was Gianluigi Colalucci.

Colalucci was a Vatican master restorer who led the technical restoration team during the vast campaign that began with preliminary experiments in 1979 and officially proceeded through the 1980s. The work addressed candle soot, smoke, dust, glue, varnish, salt deposits, flaking plaster, and earlier repainting that had dulled Michelangelo’s colors.

The restoration is often described too simply as a single-person job. Fabrizio Mancinelli directed the overall restoration project, while Colalucci served as its chief restorer and led the hands-on conservation effort. Maurizio Rossi, Piergiorgio Bonetti, and other specialists also worked on the team. This distinction explains why both Mancinelli and Colalucci appear in accounts of the project, but only Colalucci fits the wording “chief restorer.”

The ceiling work was completed in December 1989, while the wider Sistine Chapel restoration continued into the early 1990s. The restored ceiling was unveiled as part of the broader campaign in 1994.