[Gocamino] Restoration on the Portico del Gloria

[Sil]

A reproduction in plaster since 1873, displayed at the Victoria & Albert
Museum in London, had a high cost to the Portico de la Gloria. The emptying
of the molds, which took place from 1866 the Italian Domenico Brucciani
commissioned by the British Museum meant eliminating the remnants of
polychromy which had resisted centuries of weathering and the passage of
time.

The process of reproduction to actual size that can still be seen in the
museum in South Kensington meant irreparable damage to the sculptural group
that is regarded as the apex of Romanesque art, and the hand of man turned
out once again much more destructive than the passage of six centuries.

Of the original colors, the cover bears only Roman remains that can not give
even an idea of what it was in the eleventh century. Now, within the
rehabilitation process that is about to begin in the temple Compostelano may
be "recovered a little more" the original appearance and part of polychromy,
says the spokesman for the Cabildo, Jose Fernandez Lake.

The dean, Jose Maria Diaz, stressed yesterday that will be the "first phase,
monitoring," which begins with the installation of the scaffolding, which
"will dictate what can be done in the second phase." So, will discuss "what
may have polychromy of the original" Romance on the cover and which
corresponds with "tinkering" more or less successful that occurred
afterwards.

It will be the detailed study of scanning the sculptures of Portico de la
Gloria to determined to what extent the polychromy may be visible again once
topped the restoration process.

What we radically transform itself and immediate vision of tourists will,
however, the scaffolding to be installed before the Portico de la Gloria.
The rehabilitation process will begin with a monitoring and installation of
this structure, but allow visits, the Portico virtually kept hidden until
well into the Holy Year.

The deadline for execution of the work of twenty-seven months according to
the draft endorsed by the Heritage Commission, as long seemed to town
cathedral, whose spokesman underlined that, in March of the Holy Year, the
cover should Romanesque be discovered.
BLUE and gold

La Capilla Mayor will be transformed

In addition to the polychromy of Portico, the works funded by the Foundation
will allow Barrié contemplate the original appearance of the vault of the
Main Chapel, completely covered with paintings that hardly can be seen
today.

In the vault of the High Altar, is painted in oil on gold leaf scenery of a
Jacobean exaltation. This decoration was commissioned four hundred years ago
the painter Gabriel Fernandez. Now you retrieve these drawings, in shades of
blue and gold.

Those responsible for this restoration stress that it is "a large-scale,
which promises a result of the transcendent image space inside the cathedral
that set certainly radically transform the experience of visitors to the
basilica."

The Portico de la Gloria already experienced other previous restoration
attempts. In one of them were discovered traces of gold in the sculptures,
and parts of the original polychrome were kept together in one area.

Repainted several times

The monitoring process will determine what remains of the original
polychrome and which corresponds to "repainted" that were happening over the
years. Once completed will be able to tell which parts can be restored.
The deadline for the restoration is twenty-seven months, so the Portico will
remain blocked until well advanced

Original in Spanish:
http://www.elcorreogallego.es/index.php?idMenu=2&idNoticia=308313
-- 
Sil
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