Millvale society and church will unveil and celebrate more cleaned and preserved Maxo Vanka murals this month

The four-story scaffolding has been removed from inside St. Nicholas Church in Millvale, and the conservators and technicians who have worked for months to clean “Transcendent Vision,” a Maxo Vanka mural that stretches across the ceiling and connects with two side murals, have packed up their collection of tools and solvents.

Now it’s time for parishioners and visitors to marvel again at the beauty of the Croatian artist’s work and reflect on its messages. The conservation team’s painstaking labor has assured not just the murals’ preservation. Their beauty has become more vibrant and the artist’s “Gift to America” messages much clearer.

“It’s kind of like a snow globe,” explained Anna Doering, the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka executive director. “You kind of come in here, and especially with the cleaning, you just can’t help but feel immersed in it.”

The society and church will celebrate, too, with a reveal party and open house from 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 29 for the Millvale community and beyond.

The Catholic church and its 25 Vanka murals, added in 1980 to the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a historic landmark by the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, has an additional reason to  celebrate: The U.S. Library of Congress has selected Save Maxo Vanka to be a part of the Voices: Eastern and Central European Americans Web Archive. This special archive is a vast collection of historically and culturally significant websites, handpicked for preservation and research, according to the society.

Since 1991, the society has conserved the murals and provided the church with dedicated, museum-quality lighting for the art designed by Pittsburgh-based studio Clear Story. It provides access to the murals through public and private tours, educational programming, and community outreach surrounding the works’ themes.

Working in partnership with the first Croatian Catholic church in America built from the ground up in 1900, the society has now completed conservation work on 20 murals. The latest work has been moved forward with a $471,000 grant awarded to the society in 2022 by the Institute of Museum & Library Services in partnership with the National Park Service. This Save America’s Treasures Collections Grant will bring full conservation of the murals to 90% by 2025, according to society materials and its Save Maxo Vanka website.

First, the backstory of how and why Vanka came to Millvale and painted the murals: A devastating fire destroyed the original church in 1921. The church was rebuilt and reopened in 1922 — much more austere, according to the society website. The Rev. Albert Zagar became pastor and sought a muralist to “beautify the church” and tell the story of the parish and its people, including the immigrant experience in America.

He saw Vanka’s sketches of Pittsburgh on display at the Yugoslav Consulate in 1935 and believed he “found his artist and a kindred spirit,” a society 2022 catalog explains.

Vanka painted the first series of murals in 1937, staying in the rectory and working six days a week from 9 a.m. until 3 a.m., reaching portions of the church walls on rickety scaffolding, Doering said. He worked at it for eight weeks. He returned in 1941, staying 16 weeks for the second phase, adding murals with a pacifist theme, according to the website.

St. Nicholas was one of two Croatian churches constructed because of the great size of the ethnic group in Pittsburgh. The other, built in 1894 on the North Side, was moved back to make way for Route 28 in 1920, combined with the Millvale church in 1994, and despite protests, closed in 2004 and demolished in 2013 to accommodate widening Route 28.

In 2019 St. Nicholas became one of six churches in the Shrines of Pittsburgh grouping, and the Rev. Nicholas Vaskov became team ministry moderator and director of shrines, as well as pastor of Christ the Savior Parish that has three North Side churches.

Today St. Nicholas Church has 150 families, Doering said, and some parishioners are members of the society and volunteer with it. It’s a wonderful partnership, she and Father Vaskov agree.

Both recognize the importance of Vanka’s murals. They both know it’s a hidden Pittsburgh treasure.

“We know that the murals are a treasure beyond our church community,” Vaskov said. “The society was founded [in 1991] by parishioners and meant both to be able to raise the support for the preservation but also what the society does so well, education through the murals. It’s a wonderful partnership. Through the society, the murals have a much larger reach than through our parish.

“Many members remember being children in the parish. They said they were frightened by them back then. Today, they can be educated about them as well.”

He said he points out the murals in his homilies. “In many instances, the scriptures come to life as Vanka depicted them with his artistry,” Vaskov said. “They’re history come to life. They relate to modern issues, too. It helps to have something that depicts what happened a few generations ago and just say where we can find hope in all of that.”

Foundations and individuals have financed much of the needed infrastructure work, with the church contributing, including replacing the roof in 2023 and securing walls to prevent water from coming in and damaging the murals. Hurricanes Ivan and Francis damaged the church in 2004, and Doering said salt coming through the walls darkened and damaged the murals.

Ana Alba, who leads the conservation team, said airborne pollution also sticks to the murals because the church keeps the windows open so parishioners and visitors can be comfortable. Heat from the radiators causes flaking in the murals.

Vanka used water-based paint, Alba said, making them very sensitive to cleaning and requiring both dry and wet cleaning processes. Each color has its own sensitivities, too, she said, so they devise different methodologies as they work.

The wet cleaning can take two to three rounds, using cleaning fluids suspended in emulsions. Then the conservators roll cotton swabs and cosmetic sponges over the murals over and over again to carefully remove dirt. They have restored some previous corrections, too, working from period photographs as guides.  

Vanka added gold and aluminum leaf to accent and fill in murals, and those areas had been damaged by soot and corrosion that required time-consuming work, Alba said.

The Export native who moved to Florida and then came back to Pittsburgh works full time at Carnegie Museum of Art. She has worked on the Vanka murals since she shared a studio with the previous project manager, Rikke Foulke. When Foulke landed a full-time job at The Andy Warhol Museum, Alba became the project manager and lead conservator. It’s a small community of conservators, and a few have been working on the murals since the work began, she added, aided now by a Kress Foundation fellow and interns. Foulke still helps when she can. Some of the others have their own conservation businesses, including Alba.

The teams the past few years, she said, have become quite large, and last year the conservators worked on three murals a month at a time. With the Save America’s Treasures Collections Grant, the society purchased the larger and more secure scaffolding. It’s laborious work, Alba explained, and “it’s like working in a cave.” Everything must be illuminated. Temperatures in the church can reach 100 degrees.

Alba said they must be mindful beyond the cleaning. “You’re dealing with a very large mural, and you’re not viewing it the way the public views it,” she said. “You have to skew your perception of what you are doing because of the scale. It’s easy to get caught up in details. We’re dealing with smaller parts of the ceiling at once and keeping everything consistent. We try to keep people working on the same color so there is a consistency there.”

Doering said they all realize they are not making permanent fixes but rather mitigating issues. “[The conservators] want to leave open the possibility of coming back and redoing it or readdressing the problem if the science gives them a better solution,” she explained. “They think very long and hard about any treatment they do so they can meet that standard.”

The society’s mural conservation work next year will focus on “Mary,” “Croatians in the Old World” and “Croatians in America,” all on the main altar wall. Vanka’s decorations on the front of the organ loft also need to be cleaned/conserved.  Then it needs to decide how to replace the current HVAC system with an appropriate climate control one, with estimates of $500,000 for that project. Plus it needs to finish installing appropriate lighting, which may cost $300,000. Clear Story is working on that, checking on how much the murals have brightened before final design. Doering said the society has been working on a grant to finish that work, including replacing incandescent bulbs with environmentally friendly and artistically appropriate lighting.  

An important step for the society was building upon the existing tour program, adding educational programming and selling Vanka-themed items. All bring in revenue.

Doering became the society’s fundraising consultant in 2009 after leaving a Chatham University advancement and alumni affairs position. A Pittsburgh resident for 10 years, she had never heard of the church or the murals. She recalls walking in and “being blown away.”

Doering said much of the current tour success is rooted in church members, including Mary Petrich, an emeritus society board member. Now in her 90s, Petrich belonged to the church while Vanka painted some of the murals, and she would give tours on request and collect donations if people made them. She trained some current volunteers.

In 2010 Doering said 750 people visited the church and murals.

A 2016 capacity building grant enabled her to become a part-time managing director, and with more grants and more educational initiatives, the society added staff, professionalized the tours and added educational programs with the help of the Grable Foundation and other funders. Some activities moved beyond church walls, creating more visibility and publicity for the society and its mission.

The society added immersive school programs in addition to field trips. Today the society has 23 volunteers leading public tours on Mondays and Saturdays and private group tours by arrangement. Gledaj sketching sessions, named after Vanka’s exhortation to his children and grandchildren to look and observe, take place on church property and Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Chatham Baroque will perform in the church this December.

The society threw a Vanka Block Party last year and this year, funded by the Jack Buncher Foundation, that drew 400 and then 600 people. They enjoyed seeing the murals, creating artwork, and enjoying food and entertainment. The society also participates in Millvale festivals.

Doering and the society board must find funding sources to match the Save America’s Collections Treasure grant by August 2025, and she is confident that will happen. Right now they are halfway toward that goal. Then they plan to dream bigger, turning the former school building into a museum and showcasing the Vanka sketches and materials his family has donated.

Neither Alba nor Doering is Croatian. Both respect Vanka’s work for its artistic and cultural value.

“This is the story of this congregation, but it’s also the story of immigration in Pittsburgh and in America,” Doering said. “That’s what Father Zagar was aiming for at St. Nicholas.  A lot of people were asking who was paying the price for progress here in America.”   

Alba said, “I just marvel every time I am in there thinking about how the story of how they came to be. He was invited to paint these murals and bring a piece of home to the immigrants who live here. They are religious at heart but presented in a way we are not used to seeing.”