The marble masterpiece of Christ is being displayed at departure listings and boarding gates for the 35,000 passengers who walk through Terminal 1 at Rome’s largest airport each day to catch a flight.

“Salvator Mundi” or “Saviour of the World,” which depicts Christ raising his hand in blessing, was sculpted by Baroque master Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1679. It was the artist’s final work and is considered his spiritual testimony.

And until July 12, the marble masterpiece stands over a sea of curious recent arrivals to the Eternal City and bored departees lazily awaiting flights.

The temporary display was launched on April 12 by Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Culture.

“We are the city of Rome, which contains Vatican City in our territory, so, of course, Catholicism is part of our culture,” said Veronica Pamio, vice president of external relations at the airport, on the selection of the sculpture.

“As a point of entry into the country we want to be a window into the beauty of Italy. The ‘Salvator Mundi’ has a deep religious value but also value for anyone who was born and raised in Italy, because it represents Italian culture,” she told Catholic News Service on May 5.

For centuries, Bernini has wowed pilgrims who come to Rome. He designed the massive bronze baldachin that stands over the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica and the colonnade that encompasses St. Peter’s Square.

Yet unlike his other works, the imposing statue of Christ scaled 1.5 times larger than a life-sized representation, was not intended for public display.

Bernini, who completed the work at the age of 80, kept it in his home until his death just months later. He left it to Queen Cristina of Sweden, a Catholic convert who was eventually buried in the grotto of St. Peter’s Basilica. Upon her death, she gave the sculpture to Pope Innocent XI before it plunged into obscurity.

While several copies thought to be originals were found around the world over the centuries, it wasn’t until 2001 that what is now widely agreed to be the original sculpture was rediscovered in a Roman church by art historian Francesco Petrucci.

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