reorganisation and destruction of irish catholic churches
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On the triple portals of the west facades of Salisbury and Wells:
Restoring monarchs and angels
BEATRIZ PORTINARI
11 December 2007
El Pais – English EditionTeam works to return stained glass of León Cathedral to its former glory
More than a century after the last restoration of the stained glass windows of León Cathedral, a group of experts went back up its spiral staircase, crept past gothic arches, and clambered onto a scaffolding 26 meters above the ground. Their task was to undertake the biggest restoration in the entire history of the building. The most impressive glass windows in all of Spain had been so badly damaged by corrosion and dirt that the light barely filtered through anymore. Now, specialized craftsmen have until 2009 to clean 450 square meters of glass – out of a staggering total of 1,800 square meters – and recover the biblical messages depicted in each window.
“It is a work of restoration, but above all one of preventative conservation,” explains José Manuel RodrÃguez, who is coordinating the €4.5-million project. “The deterioration was due to corrosive agents in the air, microorganisms, rain, pollution, even vandalism […] So we are trying to prevent any of that from happening again.”
In the 1990s, somebody threw stones at these priceless windows and shattered several panes. That is why there is now a double protection system in place consisting of mesh wire and a transparent glass pane that creates an insulated chamber to prevent damage from condensation.
But conservationists have very little room for maneuver this time round, warns RodrÃguez. “All we’re doing now is cleaning and restoring what is already there, not like in the 19th century, the last time the windows were restored. We believe that back then the restorers even added a few panes in what were previously empty spaces.”
Fortunately, those master craftsmen who saved the cathedral in 1895 were fans of the designs of the Middle Ages and they respected the original French Gothic style, in imitation of the cathedrals of Reims and Amiens in France. The predominant colors – blue, red, yellow and green – continued to deck the tunics of the monarchs, prophets, apostles and angels that featured on the original medieval windows.
The challenge now is to do as well, or even better than, those 19th century restorers. After carefully studying the techniques and materials used in the 13th and 14th centuries, the craftsmen and women now at work on the building have submerged themselves in a world of dust, rust, lead, paintbrushes and scalpels to bring back to life the old pictures depicting the main stories of Christianity for the benefit of what was a mainly illiterate population. From east to south, the rays of the sun light up the windows, but the northern side of the cathedral, which depicts passages of the Old Testament, is always in the dark – because Christ had not yet illuminated the world with his presence.
“This window is in such a bad state that after cleaning it the change in colors is going to be spectacular,” says Arantxa Revuelta, one of the restorers, in reference to a 13th-century pane depicting the Tree of Jesse.
The Cathedral of León is notable for its pure Gothic style, related to Rheims and Chartres. Its Gothic fabric has remained untouched and free of later additions and modifications. Its construction must have cost a tremendous effort, since León was not a wealthy diocese, particularly after it ceased to be the seat of the royal court. Only the determination of the prelate, Don Maretin Fernández, appointed in 1254, carried the project forward. The highest parts of the structure were not added until the fifteenth century. The richly carved west front contains three great doors, bneath a gable wall with rose windows, niches, and arcades. Designed as a Latin cross with very short arms, the interior of the cathedral, with its long chancel and chevet of five six-sided chapels, reflecs the same purity of style as its exterior. The many stained-glass windows and the height of the narrow nave contribute much to the general impression of airiness and light.
The Virgen Blanca (1250-1275)
The Virgen Blanca or Nuestra Señora la Blanca of the west portal of Leon Cathedral is the masterpiece of a certain Enrico, who died in 1277. He worked at Burgos and at Leon, and though he must have been trained at Amiens, he transformed the stylized grace of his masters’ 13th century French Gothic art into something more picturesque and anecdotal. The drapery folds are more broken, more angular, the Virgin is pleasant and kindly, and her Son, a lively and mischievous ‘niño’.
Leon Cathedral
The Portada de la Virgen Blanca (1250-1300)
Portada de la Virgen Blanca is the west portal of the Leon Cathedral. The west porch appears to be derived from Chartres; but the sculpture itself relates first to Burgos and then back to France (probably to Amiens and Reims).
Leon Cathedral
The tympan of the Portada de la Virgen Blanca
The detail shows the Last Judgment in the Tympanum of the main (west) door of the Cathedral.
In the Cathedral of León, the range of sculpture, from the second half of the thirteenth century, is even broader than at Burgos. The three doors of the west front with its portico, the transept doors, and the interior with its beautiful funerary monuments represent a cross-section of the plastic arts of the early Gothic. Clearly there were three principal sculptors, whose personalities are distinctly expressed. The foremost of the three, to whom the more important groups were entrusted, is none other than the man who carved the statues for the CoronerÃa Door in Burgos cathedral. His stone image of the Virgin and Child, known as the White Virgin (Virgen Blanca), is one of the finest sculptures ever made in Spain. The noble severity of his style stands opposed to the greater freedom and imagination of the second of the three sculptors of León, known only as the Master of the Last Judgment, whose narrative poetry is very personal and profoundly Spanish. The third master carved the apostles on the jambs of the south door and many statues in the main façade. The style of this artist is more restrained, closer to the manner of the French masters from Amiens who carved the Sarmental Door at Burgos.
Leon Cathedral
La actual catedral de León, iniciada en el siglo XIII, presenta un diseño del más depurado estilo gótico clásico francés. Conocida como la pulchra leonina1 y catedral de Santa MarÃa de Regla.
El cabildo temió un desenlace fatal, cuando el año 1857 comenzaron nuevamente a caer piedras de las bóvedas. Intervino entonces la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, y el gobierno encargó las obras a MatÃas Laviña. Éste se dispuso a desmontar la media naranja y los cuatro pináculos que la flanqueaban, pero el peligro de un total hundimiento se hacÃa más inminente. A su muerte se responsabilizó de las obras Hernández Callejo, quien pretendÃa seguir desmontando el edificio, cuando fue cesado en el cargo. Con los proyectos de Laviña, continuó la restauración Juan Madrazo el año 1869. Éste era un gran medievalista, buen conocedor del gótico francés. Modificó notablemente la disposición de las bóvedas, volvió a rehacer desde la arcada el hastial del sur y planificó todo el templo tal y como lo encontramos hoy. A Juan Madrazo le sucedió en el cargo Demetrio de los RÃos el año 1880. Purista, como el anterior, continuó dando a la catedral el aspecto primitivo, según su pensamiento racionalista, y desmontó el hastial occidental, que habÃa sido hecho por Juan López de Rojas y Juan de Badajoz el Mozo, en el siglo XVI. A su muerte fue nombrado arquitecto de la catedral Juan Bautista Lázaro, que concluyó los trabajos de restauración arquitectónica en la mayor parte del edificio, y el año 1895 emprendió la ardua tarea de recomponer las vidrieras. Estas llevaban varios años desmontadas y almacenadas, con grave deterioro. Fue ayudado por su colaborador, Juan Crisóstomo Torbado.
El 27 de mayo de 1966 un incendio arrasó toda la techumbre de las naves altas.
En las últimas décadas se está trabajando con gran intensidad en el refuerzo de las estructuras y suelos y el tratamiento de la piedra con las más novedosas técnicas, en un esfuerzo por conservar para la humanidad esta maravilla arquitectónicaSome further information on Gothic architecture in Spain:
Some none too flattering comments on Leon cathedral from the Ecclesiologist of 1865:
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