By Ana Rodriguez Soto - Florida Catholic newspaper

Photography: ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FC

MIAMI SHORES | After more than three decades in the Florida sun, heat and humidity, Ivan Mestrovic’s massive Pieta is getting a much-needed cleaning and refurbishing.

The 10-foot-tall bronze sculpture, by the late Yugoslav artist, dominates the Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley Garden of Memories at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center. The garden is dedicated to Catholic Floridians who lived before creation of the Diocese of Miami in 1958.

The refurbishing work on the four-ton artwork began before Holy Week and continued after Easter, with only a finishing coat of wax remaining April 18.

“Providential, isn’t it?” said Sister Elizabeth Worley, the archdiocese’s COO and chancellor for administration. “We have tried for five years to get someone to do the work and managed to get it done for Holy Week. World class art, too!”

Workers began March 19 by sandblasting years of dirt off the sculpture, which most likely had not been cleaned since its 1983 installation at the Pastoral Center. A team from a local foundry, Art & Sculpture Unlimited, then began applying layers of patina to bring out the original color.

“Bronze can be any color you want,” explained David Prada, director of the archdiocesan Building and Property Office. “You can go from black to gold and everything in between.”

The foundry researched old photos of Mestrovic’s works — unfortunately, all in black and white — and consulted art historians to determine the color of the original patina, Prada said.

Workers then sprayed new patina onto the sculpture and rubbed it in using scouring pads. Before spraying, they heated the sculpture to help it absorb the patina. The final wax coat will help protect the patina, and the sculpture, from the elements.

The process “dates back thousands of years to the Etruscans, back in the Bronze Age,” said Prada.

He noted that ASU is “one of the premier foundries” in the country. It is a family-owned business, founded by Cuban immigrants. ASU also created the corpus of Christ that hangs in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral.

The Pieta was commissioned in the 1940s by Archbishop Hurley of the Diocese of St. Augustine, which at that time encompassed all of Florida. Cast in 1955 in Naples, Italy, the sculpture was cut into two parts and shipped to South Florida.

It has stood at several spots in Miami: first at Immaculata-La Salle High School, then next door at Mercy Hospital. After the sculpture began to show damage from the salt air, it was moved to Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Doral, where it remained until the Pastoral Center was completed in 1983.

“You really see it now,” said Prada, adding that the archdiocese will implement a regular maintenance program “to keep it in all its glory.”

The Pieta faces Biscayne Boulevard at 94th Street, where the Pastoral Center is located. The center also houses the massive cross that adorned the altar where St. John Paul II celebrated Mass at Tamiami Park, Sept. 11, 1987.

Surrounding the Pieta in the Garden of Memories are Mestrovic's granite bas-relief sculptures of six churchmen who opposed communism. Depicted are Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty of Hungary; Cardinal Aloysius Stepinac of Yugoslavia; Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski of Poland; Archbishop Joseph Beran of Czechoslovakia; and Maryknoll bishops Francis X. Ford of China and Patrick J. Byrne of Korea.

Besides the garden sculptures, Mestrovic is also the creator of the 20-foot-tall crucifix atCorpus Christi Church, Miami, carved from a single piece of mahogany.

The artist died in 1962 at Notre Dame University, where he had accepted a professorship in 1955. He was buried in his native Croatia.

Florida Catholic freelancer Jim Davis contributed to this report.