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Bella said:
I was fortunate to see Michelangelo's "Pietà" at the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows NYC on display in the Vatican Pavilion. I was very young but it really struck me. It was magnificent.

An excerpt below from The New York Times — April 14, 1964 > The ‘Pieta’ Arrives Here, Ever So Gently; Michelangelo Statue Lifted From Liner for Trip to Fair (Published 1964)

"Michelangelo's masterwork in marble, the 'Pietà,' arrived in New York yesterday, the first time it has left the Vatican since the sculptor smuggled it into St. Peter's in a horsedrawn cart 465 years ago.

The sculptor's poignant depiction of the frail body of Jesus in death, cradled in the arms of His mother, will be put on display in the Vatican Pávilion at the World's Fair.

Fearful that the slightest jar might split the aged marble of the massive work, shippers had packed the 'Pietà' in a watertight case inside of a case inside of another case.

Even if the Italian Line's Cristoforo Colombo—the ship that carried the masterpiece from Italy—had sunk, the container would have floated. The top of the container was painted a bright orange, so it could be spotted easily.

And even if the container. through some mischance, had sunk 10 feet below the surface, electronic equipment within the case would have radioed the 'Pietà's' position.

No margin had been left for error. The buoyant cushioning material inside the cases was considered sufficient to protect‐the 'Pietà' even if a cable had parted on the crane that lifted the crate from the deck of the Cristoforo Colombo yesterday to the deck of the barge Challenger.

All of this care was in sharp contrast with the night when Michelangelo and his friends, fearful that Pope Alexander VI might refuse permission for installation of the statue in St. Peter's, made their surreptitious entrance into the Vatican, the 'Pietà' bedded in straw and covered by old blankets.

Columbus was a contemporary of Michelangelo. But the explorer never got the welcome that the 'Pietà' did when he arrived in the New World."
Click to expand...
@Bella, you were fortunate indeed.
I didn't know the statue was here in NYC almost under my nose, but I was too young.

Thank you for the details of its journey. Fascinating!
 
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