Restoration work on the singers’ pulpit began in autumn 1997 as part of the restorations undertaken by the Vatican in the Sistine Chapel during the 1990s. The Cantoria at the time mostly displayed simple frescoes, which had been painted during an earlier renovation under Pius VI (1775–1799) in the late 18th century. When this layer of paint was removed, not only were the remains of the original frescoes from the pontificate of Sixtus IV (1471–1484) rediscovered, but it also became apparent that they had been completely covered with graffiti. The fact that generally only the chapel singers had access to the pulpit suggested that the graffiti must have been engraved by members of the papal chapel before 1800. In October 1998, the paint layer was completely removed from the walls enabling a systematic investigation of these graffiti. Most of them are either initials or complete signatures, of which many are dated. In addition, there are Latin sayings, short passages of musical notation and some drawings. The graffiti of the 15th and the early 16th century are engraved quite deeply ( pprox.. 1 millimetre), whereas the later ones tend to be shallower and sometimes show traces of writing materials.

A catalogue of the rediscovered graffiti was published in 2009: Klaus Pietschmann: “Die Graffiti auf der Sängerkanzel der Cappella Sistina. Vollständiger Katalog und Dokumentation“, in: Institutionalisierung als Prozess. Organisationsformen musikalischer Eliten im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, ed. by Birgit Lodes and Laurenz Lütteken, Laaber 2009, pp. 225–273 (Analecta Musicologica 43)

The enclosed CD-ROM offered the complete documentation of the graffiti and is made available online here. The aim was to create a differentiated inventory by combining different editorial methods. On the one hand, the graffiti are reproduced as digital photographs and line drawings. The line drawings are based on frotées (pencil rubbings), which were taken sector by sector from the entire walls, then transferred to paper, photographed and scanned. The combination of both methods was chosen to ensure a clear reproduction of the individual graffiti, which differ in depth, by engraving tools or by the colour of the wall section, for which either photography or line drawings are more suitable. The photographs correspond to the sectors of the line drawings and systematically depict all parts of the wall from top left to bottom right. While this presentation format inevitably results in separating some large-area graffiti, it contributes to the clarity of the overall documentation. A simple coordinate system thus enables a quick overview of the four wall sections (the rear wall is divided into wall sections B and C – on the left and right side of the window): The letters A – D indicate the wall section, the first number specifies the vertical, the second the horizontal coordinate.

This publication could not have been realized without the help of numerous people. First of all, I would like to thank the Vatican Museums and their director at the time, Dr. Francesco Buranelli, and H.E. the former Papal Master of Ceremonies Piero Marini for the uncomplicated working conditions I was granted in the Sistine Chapel. Prof. Dr. Arnold Nesselrath, former director of the Pinacoteca of the Vatican Museums, drew my attention to the singer graffiti and not only paved countless paths in the Vatican, but also lent his wholehearted support to this documentation project as well as the permanent conservation of the graffiti, for which he deserves my greatest thanks. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the restorer Dr. Alessandra Bertoldi, who played a major role in recording the graffiti on site and supported the work with inspiring enthusiasm. I would like to thank Renate Pietschmann and Caprice Jakumeit for helping with the graphic preparation of the extensive picture material. I owe the technically complicated photographs of the line drawings to Mrs. Karen Lück and I thank Geert Storbeck (both then University of Bonn) for arranging this contact. I am grateful to Reto Schürch (formerly at the University of Bern) for the technical production of the HTML presentation of this edition. Finally, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Richard Sherr as well as Dr. Doris and Prof. Dr. Arnold Esch for their valued advice.