November 22, 2023.- The Ministry of Culture and Sport, through the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE), continues with the restoration in the main altarpiece and the cenotaphs inside the church of the Monastery of Santa María del Parral (Segovia). The intervention is part of the National Plan of Abbeys, Monasteries and Convents and the actions foreseen in the Master Plan of the Monastery -promoted by the Ministry of Culture in 2013- and will involve a total investment of 812,179.34 euros until the end of 2024.
The Subdelegate of the Government in Segovia, Marian Rueda, and the Deputy Director General of the IPCE, Susana Mayor, have today accompanied members of the Territorial Commission of Cultural Heritage of Segovia to a visit in which they have been able to know in situ the progress of the work. The documentation work has already been carried out, modern elements and widespread accumulated dirt have been eliminated, and sculptures in an unstable situation have been removed for treatment.
At the moment, the work focuses on the tombs, made in dolomite stone and alabaster by Juan Rodríguez and Lucas Giraldo in 1528. These elements feature a thick layer of lime, partly coloured in ochre and grey, concealing the fine workings of the work. This custom was common when it came to healing and whitewashing and has hidden the artistic quality of these tombs. Its withdrawal is today a challenge for the discipline of restoration.
Always in accordance with international criteria and recommendations, other actions are being carried out in parallel, such as the filling of the joints between blocks, the strengthening of the sculptures or the stitching of the pieces that make up the creperie of the finish. These works offer a renewed vision of the cenotaphs and allow us to appreciate the finish of the labras both in the mazonería and in the sculptures.
At the same time, in the main altarpiece, the cleaning of accumulated deposits on the back, the fixing of the polychrome and the performance of cleaning tests continue. It should be noted that the works undertaken in 1965 transformed the hieronymic head of the altarpiece and thus altered the iconographic sense of it in its lower part. In this sense, the additions, fruit of that intervention, have been eliminated to provide a coherent and not fictitious image of the altarpiece.