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Restoration of Pomodoro’s 3-ton bronze sphere underway in Tehran
Iranian conservators have begun restoring Arnaldo Pomodoro’s 3,000-kilogram bronze sphere at the Time Museum in northern Tehran, two weeks after the sculpture was moved from Tehran’s Eram Park, where it had been exposed to environmental damage for decades. The restoration project, jointly run by Iran’s Cultural Heritage Research Institute and one of the Mostazafan Foundation’s museums, is expected to take 14 weeks. Visitors can observe the process in a live workshop at the Zafaraniyeh museum. “The main problems are discoloration, corrosion, and surface contamination,” said Manijeh Hadian-Dehkordi, the project’s lead conservator. The Italian artist’s signature globe, cracked to expose its abstract inner core, was originally made in 1974 and brought to Iran in 1978. Tehran hosts three versions of Pomodoro’s iconic work, but the largest, now under repair, has drawn comparisons with its famous siblings at the United Nations headquarters in New York and UNESCO in Paris. “It’s a rare piece in this scale,” Hadian noted, calling it a “world-class contemporary heritage” object. Made of bronze and copper alloy, the globe had suffered “non-expert” cleanings, Hadian said. Now, specialists are documenting the damage using photogrammetry and microscopic imaging. “It’s not just cleaning — it’s stabilizing and safeguarding the object against rain, pollution and bird droppings,” said Shiba Khadir, a metal restoration expert. The team is working closely with the Pomodoro Foundation on appropriate materials and procedures to ensure the sculpture regains its original polished finish — a key tenet of Pomodoro’s philosophy of revealing “perfection through fracture.”
If locally sourced materials fall short, restoration chemicals may be imported under the Foundation’s guidance. “The aim,” said Khadir, “is to bring the piece back to life, without altering its color or surface texture.”
The artist, born in 1926, is regarded as a pioneer of geometric abstraction in sculpture.