Who needs Rome? Get an up-close look at Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in Tacoma

The Sistine Chapel, on whose ceiling Michelangelo painted one of history’s most iconic works of art, is located in the Vatican, more than 5,700 miles from Olympia.

For the next three weeks, though, “The Creation of Adam” — in which the hands of God and Adam nearly touch — and the rest of the Renaissance master’s famed frescoes can be seen in Tacoma through a traveling exhibit that consists of full-size images of the works from the chapel’s ceiling.

And the works aren’t just closer in geographic terms. If you went to Rome to see the ceiling, you’d be looking up at the frescoes from 60 feet below.

“You look up, and it looks like a stamp almost,” exhibit producer Martin Biallas of Los Angeles told The Olympian.

In the drill hall of the Tacoma Armory, the images overhead — those from the center of the chapel’s vaulted ceiling — are mounted on trusses 14 feet above the floor. The images from the periphery hang at eye level.

As a result, one of the most striking things about the exhibit is just how gigantic these pieces are. The images measure about 9 feet by 18 feet, meaning the Biblical figures surrounding the viewer are overwhelming in scale, with their colorful garments covering vast expanses.

It’s a powerful illustration of the scope of Michelangelo’s work. The artist spent four years, from 1508 to 1512, creating the elaborate panels. Many people imagine the artist lying on his back as he worked, but the expert consensus is that he stood on scaffolding and worked above his head.

In the dim fabric-draped hall in Tacoma, celestial-sounding music contributes to the mood, which is respectful yet theatrical, with the spotlighted fresco images resembling stage sets for a play about a museum.

Surrounding visitors are all 33 images from the chapel ceiling — with only some angels and other decorations between them not shown — and a scaled-down version of “The Last Judgment,” the other Michelangelo work in the chapel.

“The Last Judgment” hanging in the armory is 14 feet by 14 feet. The original is 41 feet by 41 feet, and Biallas has that size available, too, for spaces with high enough ceilings to accommodate it. Behind it hangs an image of the same fresco before it was restored.

The images were created from high-resolution photos, taken in the 1990s after the most recent restorations were completed, and printed on fabric to simulate the look of a fresco, in which pigment is applied to fresh plaster so that images become part of the wall.

Biallas — who’s also produced traveling exhibits on the Titanic, King Tut, Star Trek and even Pokémon — hatched the idea for “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel” when he went with friends to visit the chapel five years ago.

“It was in the summer, and there were millions of tourists,” he said. “It was just an awful experience — not seeing the art itself, but the process. There are 2,000 people in there at any given time. There’s screaming and yelling. And you’re shoved out after 15 or 20 minutes.”

“You can’t really learn about it,” Biallas said. “You can’t get in the right mood.”

Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition

What: The traveling exhibition brings full-size reproductions of the Renaissance artist’s ceiling frescoes to the Tacoma Armory, where the works can be viewed up close and at leisure.

When: Daily through Oct. 14

Where: Tacoma Armory, 1005 S. Yakima Ave., Tacoma

Tickets: $24 general admission, $12 for students; each ticket allows entry for 1-1/2 hours.

More information: 253-591-5894, broadwaycenter.org

This story was originally published September 25, 2018 at 7:44 PM.