Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago

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A wave roughly 70 meters (230 feet) wide now rises across the facade of the Vatican Apostolic Library. Filmed in front of the installation, French artist JR talks about Diluvium, the first site-specific artwork ever commissioned for the library's exterior, based on Gustave Doré's 1866 wood engraving of the Great Flood.

JR speaks about water as both the greatest threat to books and manuscripts and a tool used to restore them, about the fragility of cultural memory, and about what stays with people after an image is gone.

Diluvium opens AQVA, the first chapter of the Vatican Library's five-year Catastrophe and Wonder cycle, on view to the public from September 25, 2026 to May 14, 2027.

Read the full article: urdesignmag.com/jr-diluvium-vatican-apostolic-library-wave-installation

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