It seemed he would stand the test of time upon mighty legs of marble. But the statue of David has developed an Achilles’ heel…

One of the world’s best-known works of art is in danger—even a tiny tremor could bring down Michelangelo’s David. His weak spot: the ankles…

For years directors at the Galleria dell'accademia art museum in Florence, Italy, have been playing a very dangerous game. None of the more than 1.5 million visitors who flock to the Accademia annually wants to miss seeing Michelangelo’s David, the most famous sculpture in art history. But little do admiring visitors suspect that this magnificent statue, which stands 17 feet high and weighs more than 6 tons, could come crashing down at any moment. That would be a sheer catastrophe: not because of its inestimable monetary value, but because one of the world’s greatest art treasures would be lost forever.

The National Research Council of Italy explains the problem: “Microfractures visible on the left ankle and the carved tree stump threaten the stability of the sculpture.” They were caused during the hundreds of years that the statue stood outside on the Piazza della Signoria before being moved to the Accademia in 1873. There the stature stood at a slight angle, which was enough to put huge additional strain on its ankles. Today the museum carefully maintains the statue in a vertical position, however no one has any control over another potential devastator—earthquakes. Florence lies near a number of active fault lines and has been hit before. Several earthquakes in 1895 were severe enough that people had to sleep in the streets so as not to be trapped beneath rubble in the night.

David is extremely sensitive to the stress any tilting would produce, and all the hairline fractures could easily spread upward until a breaking point is reached. The statue might simply snap off at the knees and topple in a heap. But even though earthquakes can’t be predicted or prevented, they can be prepared for. In this regard California leads the way, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has spent decades preparing for a seismic event. It also champions the efforts around the world to mitigate potential damage from earthquakes.

The Getty mounts its fragile statues on bases with seismic isolators to prevent damage. That would be an expensive proposition in the case of David, but it would still cost far less than the Accademia earns each year from his presence. There are project proposals dating from as early as 2012, but Angelo Tartuferi, director of the Accademia from 2013 to 2015, was unable to get official approval. His successor, Cecilie Hollberg, had seen the threat of an earthquake as “hypothetical” and felt there were more pressing problems. She was abruptly fired in 2019. So will David still be around to greet visitors to the Accademia in 50 years (or 5 years)? Much will depend on the politics of Italian museums—and on fate...

There is no way to know how much Michelangelo’s famed sculpture is worth. A painting of Jesus made by his contemporary Leonardo da Vinci sold for $450 million two years ago, so David could easily be worth several times as much. Specialists at the Galleria dell'accademia in Florence are trying to safeguard the giant statue against an earthquake. SHAKY PROSPECT

Restorers at the Accademia are trying to repair hundreds of years of damage from erosion and clean off accumulated grime. The many tiny holes of the original marble have made it deteriorate faster than other types of marble. Furthermore, weathering pockmarked the face over the centuries. LATE RESCUE OPERATION

Even apart from his endangered ankles, the condition of David is far from pristine. The marble has become porous over the years as a result of weathering and bird feces during the three and a half centuries that the statue stood outside. FRAGILE GIANT