What it takes to clean industrial soot and grime from a Pittsburgh church's murals

MILLVALE, Pa. (AP) — How do you conserve 80-year-old murals that have accumulated decades' worth of soot, salt and other deterioration? Slowly and carefully, using everything from scientific analysis to seaweed extract to everyday tools — like cosmetic sponges and shish kebab sticks. That was the approach taken by a conservation team as they labored on a section of murals at St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church near Pittsburgh.

The walls and ceiling of the church are covered with an acclaimed set of murals painted by the late Croatian American artist Maxo Vanka in 1937 and 1941. They mix religious imagery with dramatic depictions of war, immigrant life, industrial hardship and moral contrasts — justice and injustice, greed and generosity. The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Ma