Columbus visitors will be able to stand inches from some of the most famous paintings in the world without leaving Ohio when Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition opens Friday, Nov. 6, at Polaris Fashion Place, according to an Oct. 28 announcement from SEE Global Entertainment distributed by GlobeNewswire. The touring exhibition recreates all 34 of Michelangelo’s ceiling and altar frescoes at life-size scale, using licensed high-resolution imagery and an advanced printing technique described in that announcement.
The show brings together the full sweep of the Vatican chapel’s artwork in one room-by-room experience, from The Creation of Adam to The Last Judgment, according to the GlobeNewswire announcement. In the original chapel in Rome, many of those images sit high overhead or behind the routines of a working, crowded landmark. Here, the organizers say, each fresco is rendered in vivid detail at a size and distance that let visitors study faces, color and brushwork they might otherwise only see in a book.
That closeness is the central pitch of the exhibition, which is rated 4.8 stars globally, according to the announcement. Informative signage and audio guides accompany the works, and visitors move at their own pace, without the crowds and time limits the announcement contrasts with a visit to the chapel itself.
Polaris Fashion Place, at 1500 Polaris Parkway in Columbus, will host the exhibition for a limited run, according to the announcement. The center describes itself in the announcement as central Ohio’s premier shopping destination, about 20 minutes from downtown Columbus, with more than 160 retail, dining and entertainment options in a mix of open-air and enclosed spaces. Adding a museum-style exhibition to that mix continues the center’s push to be a destination for experiences as well as shopping.
Tickets are on sale now through the exhibition’s Columbus page, according to the announcement. General admission starts at $26, with discounted admission for seniors, students, military members and youth, and VIP tickets that include entry at any time and a souvenir guidebook. To mark the opening, the exhibition is offering $7 off tickets through Sunday, Nov. 15 — an offer the announcement calls its best price ever and the only time it will be available.
The exhibition will be open Wednesday through Sunday, according to the announcement. Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with last entry at 7 p.m., and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, with last entry at 5 p.m.
“We are thrilled to bring this immersive experience to Columbus,” Martin Biallas, chief executive of SEE Global Entertainment, the exhibition’s producer, said in the GlobeNewswire announcement. “Whether you’re an art lover, history enthusiast, or someone encountering this masterpiece for the first time, this exhibition allows you to experience Michelangelo’s genius in an intimate and unforgettable way,” Biallas said in that announcement.
Polaris Fashion Place made the same point from the host’s side. “Welcoming Sistine Chapel to our center brings something truly new and fresh to the greater Columbus community, offering guests a unique opportunity to experience something inspiring and unexpected,” Tamra Bower, the center’s general manager, said in the GlobeNewswire announcement. Bower said in that announcement that the center is proud to offer a diverse mix of tenants and experiences and excited to keep creating a destination where there is always something new to discover.
Past visitors quoted in the announcement describe that up-close effect. One verified guest review in the announcement, from a visitor identified as Fedel S., called the exhibit wonderful and said the large, close visuals and audio tour showed detail a distant ceiling view could not. NewsForce247 presents that reaction as it appeared in the organizers’ announcement — the Columbus run has not opened yet.
The Columbus stop is presented by SEE Global Entertainment in partnership with SBX Group, with Leap Event Technology as the official ticketing provider, according to the announcement. SEE Global’s family of companies is behind touring exhibitions including Star Trek, King Tut, Titanic, Frida Kahlo and The Art of Banksy: Without Limits, according to the announcement. Central Ohio readers planning a wider arts season can also follow NewsForce247’s earlier coverage of the Columbus holiday season opening with new Clippers lights and returning favorites and of the Ohio History Center staying closed through 2030 for a $58 million rehabilitation.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know is confirmed in the organizers’ Oct. 28 GlobeNewswire announcement: the opening date of Friday, Nov. 6, the Polaris Fashion Place location and address, the 34 life-size fresco recreations, the Wednesday-to-Sunday hours and last-entry times, the $26 starting general-admission price, the discount categories, the VIP package and the $7-off offer running through Nov. 15. What we are still waiting on is an announced closing date — the announcement describes the run only as limited — along with any Columbus-specific programming, school-group details or special events that the organizers may add once the exhibition is open.
What happens next is the opening itself. The first visitors enter on Friday, Nov. 6, at Polaris Fashion Place, and the $7-off opening offer runs through Sunday, Nov. 15. Anyone hoping to use the discount, or to visit before holiday crowds build at the center, will want to book in that first window through the exhibition’s Columbus ticket page listed in the announcement.
Photo: Michelangelo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons