In mid-July, a team of experienced conservators began conservation and restoration work on the historic Pleiades plafond by Wojciech Fangor at Villa Janówek.

The work was preceded by photographic documentation of the painting's state of preservation under visible light and ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) radiation. The next stage was laboratory testing of samples taken from the painting layer and mortar of the plafond. Specialized photographs revealed the painting technique of the young Wojciech Fangor.

In the first phase of the work, the painting was mechanically cleaned of surface dirt. Small scales and local separations of the paint layer were glued to the substrate, then the entire surface of the plafond was protected with a special fabric for the duration of the work carried out on the supporting structure of the ceiling.

Due to the significant degradation of some of the ceiling beams, which form the load-bearing base of the plafond, it was necessary to reinforce them. The old, weakened beams were cleaned, disinfected and reinforced with additional wooden elements. Structural and strengthening work on the ceiling elements was carried out under the supervision of a structural engineer and a mycologist.

Once the supporting structure of the plafond was stabilized, it was possible to continue conservation work on the painting. Currently, conservators are cleaning the paint layer using chemical methods. Then, after the structural strengthening of the polychrome, the stage of restoring the mortar and painting layer will begin.

The conservation and restoration work is scheduled to be completed by the end of October this year.

The renovation of the Pleiades plafond was subsidized by funds from the Mazovian Provincial Conservator of Monuments and the Polish Academy of Sciences.