VATICAN CITY (CNS) –The 100-foot-tall baldachin over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica was set to be completely covered by metal scaffolding before Easter to allow a team of 10 to 12 restorers to start cleaning, repairing and revitalizing the masterpiece designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1624 and completed around 1633.

The biggest problem facing the restorers “is getting there, that is, to be close enough” to the bronze and wood structures and many decorative details that need to be restored, Alberto Capitanucci told Catholic News Service. Capitanucci, the head engineer of the Fabbrica di San Pietro –the office responsible for upkeep of the basilica –said the baldachin is a monumental architectural structure that is as high as a 10-story building.

Despite its enormous size, Bernini wanted the baldachin to resemble the light, open and airy cloth-covered canopy used in processions of the Blessed Sacrament. The term “baldachin” or “baudekin” comes from a special brocade fabric made in Baghdad and traditionally used for processional canopies. What looks small from below is, in reality, enormous in size, Capitanucci said, indicating that the bees on top are as long as a briefcase.

The entire structure will be covered in sheer cloth to shield workers from the public, he said, and still let in lots of natural light. The current restoration project, funded by the Knights of Columbus, marks only the second restoration since the baldachin was built, he said, the last restoration being in the late 1700s.