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

The angels were painted in the early 18th century but painted over in 1912 as part of a renovation of the Old North Church.

Conservator Corrine Long, of Dover, N.H., top, hands equipment to conservator Gianfranco Pocobene, of Malden, Mass., center, as they climb down scaffolding after working to restore nearly 300-year-old painted angels on the walls of the Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston.

The Old Church is famous for hanging two lanterns from its steeple on the night of Revere’s 1775 ride to warn of the British army’s arrival.

Visitors to the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, have apparently entertained angels unawares. Eight paintings of the biblical beings were recently uncovered from thick layers of paint in the historic Boston church,