A Medici family chapel created by Michelangelo that was cleaned with the help of bacteria has been presented to the public to mark the 545th anniversary of the Renaissance master’s birth. Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpt the New Sacristy, in the Medici chapels in San Lorenzo church in Florence, in 1520.

Restorers struggled to clean the dirt and grime that accumulated over the centuries until resorting to an unconventional solution: bacteria. The tomb is adorned with sculptures representing likenesses of two dukes from the powerful Medici family, Giuliano di Lorenzo and Lorenzo di Piero, plus four allegorical figures representing different times of the day, and the Madonna and Child.