Recently restored, nearly 300-year-old painted angels, at top right, adorn an arch at the historic Old North Church in the North End neighborhood, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. Charles Krupa / AP ...

Old North Church is both an active congregation and one of the most high-profile tourist destinations in Boston. The craftsmen hope to reveal four of the original angels by April, 2025. Nancy Gonzales ...

Gianfranco Pocobene has been working atop scaffolding at Old North Church, to uncover eight of the 20 angels that have been hidden. The painted angels with childlike faces and wings were once ...

300-year-old angels were painted over at Old North Church. An effort is underway to restore them. Paint conservators are restoring 300-year-old murals of angels that have been hidden since 1912.

Conservators Corrine Long and Gianfranco Pocobene climb down scaffolding after restoring 300-year-old painted angels in Old North Church, Boston. AP Corrine Long touches up one of the angels.

The Old North Church is famous for its role in the American Revolution in 1775. It's the place where the legendary Paul Revere hung two lanterns to warn that the British were coming.

Recently restored, nearly 300-year-old painted angels adorn an arch at the historic Old North Church in the North End neighborhood, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Charles Krupa ...

Recently restored, nearly 300-year-old painted angels adorn an arch at the historic Old North Church in the North End neighborhood, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) ...

The painted angels — with round childlike faces and wings — once were among the defining features of the Old North Church when they were painted around 1730.

Recently restored, nearly 300-year-old painted angels adorn an arch at the historic Old North Church in the North End neighborhood, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) ...

Conservator Corrine Long, of Dover, N.H., works to restore nearly 300-year-old painted angels on the walls of the Old North Church in Boston.

By MICHAEL CASEY BOSTON (AP) — Straddling the scaffolding high up in a historic Boston church, murals conservator Gianfranco Pocobene is working to uncover eight angels that were hidden under… ...