The Light of Images -·Segorbe·-

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12th March 2001
Segorbe cathedral recovers its splendour for the exhibition entitled The Light of Images

· The restoration of the vault and the tondi of Segorbe cathedral reveals its original appearance.
· The vault and the tondi, first sample of the restoration process preceding the exhibition "SEGORBE'S LIGHT OF IMAGES".

PROCESS OF RESTORING THE VAULT AND TONDI

The building of Segorbe cathedral, the basic space in which the exhibition will be housed, started in the 15th century and was completed in the 16th century. This is an interesting example of the late Gothic style, undergoing a significant transformation in the 17th century, with an appearance today that is the result of a radical transformation carried out from 1791 to 1795.

Along with the cathedral the other venues for the exhibition will be Saint Martin and Saint Anne's churches and the Seminar. All these buildings are being applied restoration work in order to create an appropriate setting to house a great exhibition.

The presentation of the frescos in the vault and the tondi restored at Segorbe cathedral is a first sample of the series of works of art, painting, sculpture, precious metal work, architecture and music which will form Segorbe's "Light of Images" 2001-2002.

The team headed by Fina Martínez has been commissioned with restoring the vault and tondi of Segorbe cathedral, in a process starting in 1998 and ending this year.

José Camarón Bonanat was inspired in the "Glorification of Mary" to paint the frescos in the vault, starting the work in 1800. When he died, in 1803, he was replaced by his son Manuel Camarón i Meliá, who went on with the work, completing this in 1806.

During the Civil War a mortar bomb destroyed part of the vault. The damage caused was serious. In 1940 the experts from San Pío V museum set to work on this, rebuilding the damaged part with materials not used in the rest of the building. They resorted to retouching this with a patch of the colours found in the rest of the fresco to cover the reconstructed part, giving rise to a neutral inpainting, in which no shapes are defined. The passing of time seriously worsened the state of the frescos, in which dirt, cracks, damage through humidity and salts, etc. gradually accumulated.

In 1998 a team of specialists headed by Fina Martínez started the process of restoring the vault, which began with an exhaustive analysis of the state of the vault and the materials present in the layers of paint. This led to designing an operative procedure using the most advanced techniques in order to bring the work back to its original state. In the sampling and analysis process they discovered portions of figures indicating that the appearance of the vault is not as it originally was. From these, and from the graphic evidence dating back to 1919 from the Mas Archive, which reflects the fresco as it was prior to the civil war, the work painted by Camarón was reconstructed.

The missing part of the work, a neutral inpainting, was sufficiently large to draw the eye from the whole piece, thus spoiling the overall effect. This led to losing the potential unity, mutilating the underlying iconographic message. This was why it was decided to proceed by recovering the work as this was conceived in 1800.

The tondi of the cathedral, an original work by José Vergara, were in a very clear state of decay, requiring the protection of the zones with a risk of cracking, consolidation and replacement of mortars, general cleaning of dust and smoke stains and chromatic retouching. Fina Martínez's team implemented a painstaking technique which ended up in the present appearance of the tondi.

After a thorough restoration process got under way in 1997, we can today admire the beauty of the tondi of the Assumption, the Presentation, the Annunciation and the Blessed Virgin.

FRAMEWORK OF THE RESTORATION WORK

Between the months of September 2001 and March 2002 the city of Segorbe will be the venue for an exhibition hitherto unprecedented through its scope and artistic interest; THE LIGHT OF IMAGES IN SEGORBE.

The exhibition will allow a large number of works to be recovered, bringing these out of obscurity to a state in which they can be admired in their greatest splendour. Works dating from the 13th to the 19th century will be seen as they originally looked, enduring in time as an artistic heritage which has been rescued from oblivion.

Through the trip around the different buildings of the exhibition you can participate in the history of Segorbe diocese, which so deeply impregnates both the buildings and the works being shown to the public.