Carrier cooling for Vatican Museums

Carrier air conditioning is helping to ensure optimal ventilation and comfort in the historic Raphael Rooms at the Vatican Museums.

With summer temperatures in Rome reaching 40°C, it was decided to install air conditioning in the Raphael Rooms for the first time and Carrier engineers developed and installed a custom solution utilising a new system design that delivers heating and cooling in one-quarter of the traditional footprint, all without altering the existing infrastructure. 

Barbara Jatta, director, Vatican Museums, said “The Vatican Museums have the mission to ensure the protection and safety of the artwork, spaces and visitors. Carrier was extraordinary because, like its prior work at the Sistine Chapel, the team knew how to work with our technical divisions and how to update these rooms that were not conceived as a museum. The result not only helps us in our preservation mission for the future generations but also helps in the enjoyment of this heritage frequented daily by numerous visitors, more than 6 million every year.”

Didier Genois, vice president and general manager, Carrier HVAC Europe, said: “It was a tremendous honour to be asked again by the Vatican Museums to deliver innovative solutions. This project underscores our role as a leader in the industry, with the expertise to develop unique, customised HVAC solutions. We put our world-class engineering and design resources into this project and are exceptionally proud of the outcome.”

Carrier had previously installed an HVAC system at the Sistine Chapel and its engineers designed small, high-capacity, fan coils to circulate the air, which were installed underneath the windows in the Raphael Rooms, remaining invisible to visitors. Energy-efficient Carrier AquaSnap chillers were also installed in hidden location and an iVu building automation system is now in place to help optimise the systems.

Adorned with frescoes painted between 1508 and 1524 by Renaissance artist Raphael, the Raphael Rooms
are universally known as one of the greatest works of art ever created and a video highlighting the project
can be viewed below.

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