An ancient statue comes back to life

The Apollo of Veio shines again after a cleaning that restored the Etruscan masterpiece’s original colors and provided information about techniques used 2,500 years ago.

The restoration, unveiled Thursday at the National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome, was the first in decades on the terra-cotta statue of the Greek god.

“The restoration brought back to life the varied colors that caused such amazement when the statue was first discovered,” said Francesca Boitani, one of the project’s curators and the museum’s director.

Pieces of the sculpture were recovered in 1916 near Rome. Three years later the fragments -- about 30, including one single big piece of the head, shoulders and torso -- were pieced together to form a statue, although the arms and other parts are missing.