Bernini's Santa Bibiana restored and repositioned after Galleria Borghese exhibition

The Galleria Borghese's blockbuster Bernini exhibition, which closed on February 20, 2018, attracted 169,000 visitors over three months, prompting an extension. The show, curated by Andrea Bacchi and Anna Coliva, marked the 20th anniversary of the museum's 1998 reopening after a 16-year closure. It featured some 70 works, including loans from international institutions like the Louvre's Sleeping Hermaphroditus. A key outcome was the restoration of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Santa Bibiana, his first public sacred sculpture, normally housed in the church of Santa Bibiana on the Esquilino. The statue left its church for the first time for the exhibition and was restored in an open workshop at the Galleria Borghese. During restoration, conservators discovered that the sculpture's placement on the high altar did not match Bernini's original orientation. A 30-degree rotation of the base was proposed to correct this. With support from the Associazione di promozione sociale Piazza Vittorio (constituted by Enpam), the Vicariato di Roma, the Soprintendenza di Roma, the Esquilino Vivo committee, and the Gruppo di lavoro Via Giolitti, the statue was reinstalled in its correct position on the high altar, allowing the public to view it as Bernini intended.