Burgtheater Tours View Klimt Ceiling Restoration

In Vienna, art enthusiasts are scaling scaffolding 18 meters above the floor of the renowned Burgtheater for daily guided tours offering rare close-up views of early oil paintings by Gustav Klimt, which are undergoing restoration due to water damage.

The 10 ceiling paintings, created by Klimt in 1886 and 1888 alongside his brother Ernst and fellow Austrian artist Franz Matsch, mark Klimt's first major commission at age 24. They depict scenes from theater history, including one of the largest works showing Queen Elizabeth I watching a production of Romeo and Juliet at London's Globe Theatre. Directly behind the queen stand Klimt and his collaborators, in what experts identify as Klimt's only known self-portrait.

Restoration efforts, funded by an investment of several hundred thousand euros, aim to return the artworks to their original splendor. Burgtheater commercial director Robert Beutler said workers clean the surfaces by hand using fine cotton swabs and condensed water. "The biggest Klimt painting is about 35 square meters, so you can imagine how long that takes when you remove dust and grime piece by piece and layer by layer," Beutler told the Associated Press.