- The Government allocates almost 2.5 million euros so far to restore the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
- Denis Itxaso: “El programa del 1,5% Cultural garantiza la recuperación, conservación y puesta en valor del patrimonio cultural. The restoration will allow the full recovery of a well-loved building for Donostia”
- The government delegate visits the restoration of the Cathedral with the Bishop of San Sebastián, Fernando Prado
The Government of Spain has already allocated more than 2.44 billion euros to the restoration of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, in San Sebastian. Funding from the 1.5% Cultural Program, channeled from the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and which contributes to the cost of actions for the recovery and conservation of cultural heritage throughout the country. In the case of the Donostian Cathedral, the 2.4 million euros are distributed between the recovery of the Tower (subsidy of 819,000 euros contributed in 2018) and the recovery of the East facade, which includes the facades, stained glass and roofs (subsidy of 1.6 million euros by the Ministry, which is 75% of the total cost). The government delegate, Denis Itxaso, visited today the works of this second phase of the recovery of the Cathedral together with the Bishop of San Sebastián, Fernando Prado, to be interested in the evolution of the works.
“The forecast,” he announced, “is that this second phase of the restoration of the East façade will end at the end of summer. In this way, only a third phase will remain in which the western half of the temple will be recovered, which will be executed when the current works are completed.” “El Programa del 1,5 % Cultural garantiza la recuperación, conservación y puesta en valor del patrimonio cultural. This performance in the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd is another step in that direction, an effort that the Government is making to recover the fullness of a building very dear to Donostia.”
The master plan of the Cathedral of Buen Pastor includes several phases for its restoration. In the first one (already finished) the tower of the bell tower of the monumental complex was restored and rehabilitated. And now it is working on a second phase in the restoration of the eastern half of the temple, an area more deteriorated by suffering small landslides in recent years. In this action, the recovery of:
-The stained glass windows. They have been disassembled to be transferred to the workshop where their planimetry will be recovered, all tin welds in poor condition will be cleaned and restored. Finally they will be repositioned in their original position, protecting them with isothermal glasses.
-The stone surfaces. They have been healed, cleaned and restored. In addition, all the sores will be collected and tensioned, once the volumes of the affected pieces have been recovered.
-The chalkboard covers and zinc caps. They have specific deficiencies that need to be repaired. The damaged pieces of slate will be replaced and the zinc caps will be inspected. The gutters and downcomers will be completely replaced.
Program 1.5% Cultural
The 1.5% Cultural Program is the main tool of the Government to guarantee the conservation and promote the enrichment of the historical, cultural and artistic heritage of the peoples of Spain and the goods that make up it. This is the percentage that the General Administration of the State must reserve from the budget of each State public works to finance works of conservation, regeneration or enrichment of buildings declared national heritage and to promote artistic and cultural actions. To that end, the Law on Historical Heritage established the minimum percentage of 1% to be applied on the budget of public works that are executed by the State Administration. Beyond this obligation, the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda expanded its contribution in 2014 to 1.5% of the budget of the works it litifies. And last December, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Culture signed an agreement to raise to 2% Cultural the actions of rehabilitation of the Spanish Historical Heritage in the next call.
“Euskadi”, said Itxaso, “has received a total of 4.3 million euros from 1.5% Cultural in the last three calls in 2017, 2018 and 2019 to finance actions for the recovery and conservation of cultural heritage in the three Basque territories”. Among the assets of the Basque Country financed in these three calls for proposals are the restoration of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in its two phases:
-The recovery of the castle of Gazteluzahar and its surroundings, in Irun. (319.328 euros, 50% of the total work)
-The recovery and enhancement of the monument galleries Punta Begoña, in Getxo. (524,735 euros, 50% of the total work)
-Restoration of the cover of Santa Ana of the Cathedral of Santa Maria, in Vitoria-Gasteiz. (287,842 euros, 70% of the total work).
-Restoration of the calcination furnaces of the Aizpea mining district, in Zerain. (530,137 euros, 74.82% of the total work)
-Conservation and rehabilitation of the Errotatxo mill, in Mutiloa. (185,639 euros, 54.62% of the total work).