Rubens Gallery

The Peter Paul Rubens Galleries showcase the cornerstone of The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art’s collection: Triumph of the Eucharist. The design by Architect John H. Phillips uses the massive size and scale of the gallery to introduce viewers to the museum’s impressive Baroque collection. The Rubens—or “Gallery 2” floors—has been welcoming visitors into the Museum of Art for over 90 years.

The historic floor consists of an elaborate herringbone pattern with a geometric perimeter. The wood pieces are a variety of maple, oak, and Bulletwood, an exotic semitropical hardwood of the Manilkara genus. Over the years, the adhesive holding the wood boards in place had weakened creating a trip hazard for museum guests. Short term solutions of laying down rugs, nailing down loose floor pieces, and sectioning off troubled areas provided some relief but the floors were in need of a total restoration.

EverGreene provided the museum with a full disassembly and restoration of the Gallery 2 Floors. As the museum and grounds remained open to visitors during work, environmentally-friendly methods were employed, to avoid the use of harsh chemicals or solvents. Mechanical removal of degraded adhesive was done inside the museum and CO2 blasting was carried out in a tent outside of the museum. The wood pieces were then re-adhered to the sub-flooring in their original locations. The finished floor had developed an aesthetically appealing “patina” and was left unaltered, apart from buffing and application of a protective coating.