Earlier this month, just over two years after Los Angeles passed a law requiring seismic retrofits of older, nonductile concrete buildings, the city’s Dept. of Building and Safety began sending compliance orders to owners.

To preserve Michelangelo’s final sculptural masterpiece, La Pietà Rondanini, the city of Milan turned to a diverse team to develop an isolated support structure for the statue that would limit the impacts of vibrations from both earthquakes and local traffic.