HEAVENLY WORK

Immersive Sistine Chapel exhibit comes to life at Austin's Circuit of The Americas

Austin's Circuit of The Americas (COTA) will be transformed this month into a virtual masterpiece guided by divine inspiration.

COTA will be recast as Michelangelo’s iconic Roman master work, the Sistine Chapel as part of an internationally touring experience known as “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition,” taking place in Austin July 8-August 28.

Billed as “an immersive, museum-quality, near life-size reproduction” of the frescoes that adorn the actual Sistine Chapel, the exhibition showcases 34 reproductions — including the awe-inspiring The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgement scenes — in their original size, but recreated through a special printing technique and displayed at eye level. The exhibition aims to give viewers the chance to explore the artwork up close, down to every brushstroke, in a way that a visit to the Sistine Chapel never could.

“Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” isn’t new to Texas; the international tour, which began in 2015, visited Houston in 2018 and Dallas a few years before that. The tour also stopped in San Antonio in 2021. Tickets for the show’s Austin residency recently became available online, along with tickets to an opening night VIP preview experience.

While it’s true there is nothing that can replace viewing this magnificent artistic achievement in its home in Vatican City, the exhibition is designed to immerse viewers in the marriage of art and technology, giving art enthusiasts a new perspective on Michelangelo’s masterpiece.

Tickets start at $22.20, and the experience will take around 60 to 90 minutes when accompanied by audio guides (available for purchase), or 30 to 50 minutes without an audio guide.

Once the exhibition is unveiled in July, it will be open for viewing Thursdays through Sundays from 10 am-6 pm.

The Austin showing will be hosted at Circuit of The Americas, which previously housed an immersive Van Gogh experience.

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition

The Austin showing will be hosted at Circuit of The Americas, which previously housed an immersive Van Gogh experience.

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New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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