Tony Rajer, the University of Wisconsin art restoration professor who first came down here to restore the murals at the Panama Canal Adminstration Building, says that a book that he has been compiling about the Teatro Nacional is almost done and that the restoration of the theater itself is well along. The theater's cupola, murals and friezes were painted by Panamanian diplomat and painter Robert Lewis, about whose work Rajer is now surely the world's top expert.

Rajer spoke about his work at the December meeting of the Panama Historical Society, which is tentatively planning a field trip to the theater sometime early next year. Speaking of the works he and a Panamanian team that he largely trained have been restoring, which were painted on large canvases that were then glued into place inside the Teatro Nacional, Rajer said that Lewis "was able to combine modern concepts of art with his academic training to create a true masterpiece."

Part of the theater's painted ceiling came crashing to the floor a couple of years ago, after years of neglect allowed water to seep in and do structural damage. That problem, Rajer said, has been fixed.

The rehabilitation job is not just to the roof and the paintings, but has also involved removing carpets that were installed in the 1970s to reveal the 1908 theater's original ornate Italian floor tiles and other features.

Though much of what Rajer and the restoration crew --- mainly University of Panama architecture students --- have been doing involves painstaking cleaning with q-tips, a lot of historical research has gone into the project, and into Rajer's book. The meaning of the allegories in Lewis's illustrations, the artist's biography and the works of others that influenced his style have all been studied in detail.

There are other art and architectural restoration works underway during Panama's centennial year, including the old Palacio del Gobierno next door to the Teatro Nacional and the exterior of the Normal School in Santiago. Inside the Normal School there is another Lewis masterpiece, an unfinished but largely complete set of murals, that need cleaning and restoration that has yet to begin.

Rajer and the students working under his direction are busy during weekday working hours at the Teatro Nacional, and he said that they'd be happy to show visitors what they're doing. He added that he's looking for tasks that untrained people can do, so that days can be set aside for public volunteers to do their part to resore the ornate theater.