100 Year-Old Mural in Bessemer Gets a Makeover
When the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was restored in the 1980s and 90s, people were awe struck by the transformation. Vibrant colors and details that had been hidden for centuries could be seen once again. At the Bright Star in Bessemer, which bills itself as the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Alabama, the staff is experiencing similar feelings as the eatery’s more than 100 year-old mural slowly gets a makeover.
Bright Star manager, Andreas Anastassakis, has witnessed fisherman, Appalachian rivers and giant evergreen trees appear on the walls around him. The most surprising discovery? “The lighthouse, the small one above the women’s restroom,” Anastassakis says, “I mean you saw the light shining off of the lighthouse. I mean, we really had no idea what was there.”
Matt Diffie,WBHM
The lighthouse is just one of the Impressionist-style paintings that make up the Bright Star mural. Staff said they had no idea the lighthouse light was even shining.
The paintings are covered with a layer of film as dark as the wood paneling that lines the dining room walls. The coating in some places was so thick that the staff couldn’t tell what was underneath, Anastasskis says.
The lighthouse is just one of the impressionist-style paintings that make up the Bright Star mural. The owners say it was hand painted in the early 20th century by several unknown European artists who traveled through Bessemer by railroad.
The man commissioned for the restoration is art conservationist John Bertalan. “I stick together things which should stick and don’t and unstick things which have stuck together but shouldn’t,” says Bertalan, describing his work.
Matt Diffie,WBHM
This is an up close view of one of the paintings. Notice the bottom right corner is still covered with grime. Bertalan said previous staff used an oil-based cleaning product to try to keep this painting clean, but it only added more oil to the painting which was already covered with layers of grease and smoke.
Bertalan’s been working on this project for more than a year and he’s only about halfway done. And it’s not that he’s slow. Imagine how much gunk can build up on a restaurant wall over a hundred-year period, especially during a time when people still smoked indoors.
“So what happened was you had cooking grease and smoke, and a layer of varnish,” he says. “Then you had a layer of cooking grease and smoke and a layer of varnish.”
Then, in 2003, Alabama essentially banned smoking in public buildings and the Bright Star followed suit. “Then you had cooking grease and no smoke and the final layer of varnish,” Bertalan continues.
Matt Diffie,WBHM
This is a side by side comparison. The right painting has been cleaned. The left side shows the thick, dark layer of build-up of 100 years of grease, smoke and varnish.
Multiple layers of grime plus the age of the mural equals a methodical and delicate cleaning process. Bertalan applies a chemical mixture to a fine cloth and lays that over a small section of the mural. Once the film has absorbed the solution, it begins to separate from the painting. Bertalan then uses a Q-tip to gently remove the film one layer at a time. He says it takes three hours to clean just a square foot of wall space down to the paint layer.
Three hours is basically all the time Bertalan has in a day to work on this project. The Bright Star is still open for business. Bertalan is there most mornings from 7-10 a.m., before customers arrive. Staff and patrons have been able to watch the slow transformation over the last 15 months.
Matt Diffie,WBHM
Another painting in the mural.
“We thought they were beautiful as they were,” says Matthew Dugger, a server at the restaurant. “We thought they were historical looking and just kind of a constant reminder of how long the restaurant’s been here.”
“We’ve had all different comments from our guests,” Anastasskis adds. “At the beginning, some guests even made the comment, ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that.’ Because they’ve been here for so long and they think you’re changing things. We’ve had other people come in and they think that we’re repainting them.”
Anastassakis says he and Bertalan are considering not cleaning one of the paintings, so when patrons have questions, Bright Star staff have a before and after visual.
No one knows exactly how much longer the restoration is going to take, but Bertalan is confident he’ll finish by October of this year. And, he says, if they need him to come back in another hundred years to clean the murals again, he will. If he’s available.
Matt Diffie,WBHM
This plaque hangs on the wall in the Bright Star dining room.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
Birmingham Museum of Art’s silver exhibit tells a dazzling global story
Silver and Ceremony is made up of more than 150 suites of silver, sourced from India, and some of their designs.
Mentally ill people are stuck in jail because they can’t get treatment. Here’s what’s to know
Hundreds of people across Alabama await a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in providing care for people who are charged with crimes but deemed too mentally ill to stand trial. But seven years since the federal agreement, the problem has only worsened.
Ivey appoints Will Parker to Alabama Supreme Court
Parker fills the court seat vacated by Bill Lewis who was tapped by President Donald Trump for a federal judgeship. The U.S. Senate last month confirmed Lewis as a U.S. district judge.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
