NEW YORK—For decades, the ceiling in the cathedral-like lobby of the Empire State Building has not been one of the skyscraper’s main attractions — until this week. After a $12.5 million renovation, two shiny Art Deco murals that disappeared from view in the 1960s are back.

The murals were left to deteriorate more than 35 years ago after being covered with white plastic panels and fluorescent light fixtures. As part of a lobby restoration project, more than 50 artists, site painters, and installers worked on new reproductions of the murals, since the originals, designed by an artist named Leif Neandross, were damaged. The murals show the sky, with the sun and the planets appearing like gears, wheels, and cogs — fitting symbols for a building designed during the 1920s, when assembly lines were humming.

Read more at the New York Times.