Praxiteles

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

Just admire this wonderful example of gorgously air-tight double glazing on the lancets of the South aisle in Cobh Cathedral and think of the acceleration with which the lead work holding the glass must be deteriorating behind it. Indeed, if it has taken only 10 years for the newly installed “restored” wooden floor to come up ad wreck the unprotected mosaics; and even less than 10 years for the internal bath sheeting of he South side to collappse due to water ingress from a wrongly finstlled new roof and incompetent gutters; and for the walls of the baptistery to disintigrate due to the leaking roof on the north tower on the west fcade – then it should take that long for most of this glass just to fall into the south aisle some day soon.

An article on the theological significance of numbers and numeration:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21558177/Number-by-David-Clayton

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

That sign hanging on the scaffolding tells a bitter tale of government subsidy: clearly, some questions will have to be asked of the government in these streightened times as to why it supports an initiative that is likely to cause even more damage to the fabric of Cobh Cathedral than the last “restoration” when the financials returns of the restoration Fund show that Cathedral “restorers” have sometinbg like Euro 1.4 million in the bank.

From the Sunday Business Post, 13 January 2008:

Falling masonry forces part-closure of cathedral
Sunday, January 13, 2008 – By Kieron Wood
When worshippers at St Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh, Co Cork, gaze heavenwards during Mass, they are as likely to be considering falling masonry as spiritual matters.

The magnificent Pugin cathedral, set high above Cobh harbour, has been undergoing renovations for 15 years, but now a large section of the cathedral has had to be closed to the public because of collapsing stonework.

Although millions of euro have been spent on repairs, figures released last week show that most of the money collected for the restoration is going on professional fees.

According to accounts filed with the Companies Office by the Cobh Cathedral restoration fund, €358,305 was paid to building contractors between 2000 and 2006,while €367,605 was spent on professional fees, advertising and promotions. In 2006 alone, €148,000went on professional fees, while just €4,000 was spent on the cathedral bells.

The restoration programme began in 1992,when it was discovered that the roof slates of St Colman’s were crumbling. The projected cost was estimated at up to €5 million.

To date, the roof has been reslated, with some woodwork replaced, the granite stonework has been cleaned and pointed, the stained glass windows have been storm glazed and re-leaded, statues repaired, a new electrical system installed, the carillon restored and two new bells added. A new sub-floor heating system has been installed, the entire wood block floor replaced and an up-to-date fire detection system installed.

The Accumulated Fund of St Colman’s Roman Catholic Trust Limited at December 31, 2006 totalled €1,092,702 – mainly raise by contributions from parishioners, a contribution from the Cloyne Diocesan Fund, grants and other donations.

Total income of the fund between 1993 and 2006 amounted to €5,479,100, and total payments on the cathedral restoration programme amount to €4,386,398.

But proposals by the Bishop of Cloyne, Dr John Magee, to refurbish the cathedral interior have met stiff local opposition, with more than 24,000 local people signing a petition against the plans.

Despite more than 200 objections from individuals and groups, Cobh Town Council granted permission for the changes in September 2006.

The newly formed Friends of St Colman’s Cathedral (FOSCC) appealed to An Bord Pleanala, supported by the Department of the Environment, the Georgian Society, An Taisce and the Pugin Society in England.

After a three-day oral hearing in February and March 2006, the planning board rejected the changes, and work came to a halt.

But last month, parishioners were warned that ‘‘safety concerns’’ had arisen about masonry high up on the south of the cathedral.

‘‘For this reason, it has become necessary to cordon off a part of the south side. Arrangements have already been made to have this matter dealt with as soon as possible.”

A diocesan spokesman told The Sunday Business Post: ‘‘No part of the cathedral has collapsed in any way. Since December, a section of the south nave and the south aisle of the cathedral have, for safety reasons, been cordoned off due to fragments falling from the clerestory wall. The occurrence is currently being examined by experts and a report is awaited.

‘‘Less than 10 per cent of the seating capacity is cordoned off. Over 90 per cent of the cathedral is still in use.”

But Adrian O’Donovan, spokesman for FOSCC, said: ‘‘We have expressed our concerns in relation to the lack of maintenance in the cathedral for some time. We are most anxious that any further works are carried out to the highest professional and conservation standards.”

The situation has been the subject of online debate on the architectural blog Archiseek, with contributors claiming parts of the cathedral were littered with bits of stone and questioning the standards of the work done.

The diocesan spokesman said all restoration work had been done to the highest standards and under the guidance of eminent architects and conservation experts.

‘‘The restoration programme still remains incomplete. Specifications are being prepared for restoration work on the entrance, doors and mosaic floors of the cathedral. This work will be done in consultation with the planning authorities and in accordance with planning requirements and guidelines. The main altar in the sanctuary of this magnificent cathedral is still a moveable plywood structure,” he said.

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

Just in case anyone may still thinks that Cobh Cathedral is of “hay-barn” importance, it may be worth noting that the recently published Architectural Survey for the National Architectural Inventory has rated the building as being of “International” importance – a point which has been repeatedly made on this thread. Yet, its conservation appears to be in the hands of Beotians abetted by an incompetent loacl authority (whose abolition is heartily advocated for the greater good of humanity).

Here is the relevant link in the East Cork section of the Architectural Survey:

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=EC&regno=20827192

St Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

Did anyone ever think just ten years ago that we would have to re-do much of the “restoration” work of the 1993-2000 period? Did anyone ever expect to see so much scaffolding on Cobh Cathedral in anything less than 50 years from the completion of the last works? Would David Slattery confirm that he presided over the 1993-2000 external “restoration” which has failed and now has to be redone?

St. Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co. Cork

Readers will be aware that works are currently being carried on at St Colman’s cathedral. tese works are regarded as ordinary maintenance by Cobh Town Council. Essentially, what is now happening is repairing the damage to the fabric which has been caused by a series of injudicious works carried out on it from 1993-2000. Readers will recall that the Bath stone cladding of the South arcade was badly affected by water ingress and sections of it collapsed at Christmas 2007. The information below now indicates just how extensive the deficiencies of the 1993-2000 “conservation” works were. Five rows of slate on the South side must be removed and a provision made to prevent rain by forced under them by teh strong South winds – why was this not done during the “conservation” work. Although the originaly slates had pulverised and needed to eb replaced, the Cathedral roof did not suffer from this problem prior to 1993-2000 works.

Also, we are told that the mortar pointing on the South side must be replaced as well as on the North side. The dissolution of the pointing which was installed in 1993-2000 has caused water to penetarte the walls on the South and North sides causing extensive damage to the North wall of the Baptietery. Up to the time of the 1992-2000 “conservation” works, this problem did not exist.

A new under floor heating system was also installed in the 1993-2000 “conservation works”. This heating system is covered by a block wood floor. WHen the heating is switched on, the wooden floor expands. Because the protective metal case for the aisle mosaics was removed and not replaced, the expanding wooden floor expands into the tesserae of the aisle mosaics causing them to lift. This problem had not existed prior to the “conservation works”.

All of this, amply abetted by Cobh Town Council, does not engender much confidence in the best conservation practice that is often touted by the Cork Conservation Officer but little of which makes its way onto the ground in Cobh.

Unless I am mistaken, the architect for external conservation works in the 1990s at Cobh Cathedral was a gentleman called David Slattery.

A couple of interesting ecclesiastical items from canada.

First this:

(It does not take too much to detect the influence of JJ McCarthy in that facade)

And the interior:

Some idea of the extent of the recent renovation can be gained from this link:

http://www.rooftilemanagement.com/StPatrick.html

“Recycling keeps Landmark Church out of Landfill
Catherine Nasmith

There is something poetic about a community that has kept its landmark church out of the landfill by recycling stuff.

The village of Kinkora Ontario is very determined to keep its landmark church. The tiny crossroads farming community is graced by the presence of its cathedral scale St. Patricks Church, built in 1882, designed by the famous architect Joseph Connelly. The church is reminiscent of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Formosa in being extremely ambitious in scale for its community, as well as having been designed by the same architect. The Formosa church was the inspiration for the Ontario church in Jane Urquart’s novel The Stone Carvers. Such buildings take monumental effort to create.

Open to the public on September 29 there was an opportunity to share the beauty of the building but also the remarkable story of its restoration. In just five years a congregation of only 150 families, with just over 50 very active members has managed to raise 1.4 million dollars. Another $600,000 is needed to re-instate the spire that was removed a few years ago because it had become unstable.

Congregation member Pauline Bokkers spoke of the ongoing effort. “Our ancestors built us such a beautiful building…..we just had to find a way to save it.” When they started, it was with a roofing project that had been estimated at $600,000. As is often the case, once the construction started much more was needed.

The story of how the monies were raised is inspiring. In addition to community bake-sales and gala dinners the congregation began to collect as many recyclables as they could and sold them. This was the most lucrative of the projects, but took thousands and thousands of volunteer hours. Millions of pop cans have been collected; crushed one by one by a blind volunteer who took this on as the thing he could contribute. Newspapers by the thousands were collected. Another volunteer spent months tearing the covers off of all the discarded library books from towns within a hundred miles to capture the paper.

Hats off to Kinkora. Faith, commitment, determination, and perseverance have paid off. The project has not only strengthened the congregation, but the community all around”.

The pulpit in the Archcathedral of St. Peter in Posen:

Some further pictures of the Bernini Tabernacle: