Hi Sil,
Great to know your views on Burgos Cathedral, we arrived at the deserted cold Burgos Cathedral on a morning and after seeing so many Cathedrals all over Europe we did not linger. You are preaching to the converted as to regards to the ostentatious restoration work done to many of the Cathedrals in Europe. We also visited many restored Cathedrals in Germany, France, UK, which were restored after being bombed during the World War. We wondered where the money to restore them came from. And was it necessary to put so much gold on the pillars and statues.
My post was a plea to clean up the Santiago Cathedral of the fungus, moss and lichens growing on the walls and roof before the roots start cracking the masonry. I posted a few photos on
http://picasaweb.google.com/Joe.S.Chan/ ... oCathedral which is not meant to be critical but illustrates the condition in May 2007.
The Cathedral received 3million E in 2006 for restoration work so financially they are not in dire straits. The need to have a high pressure hose to blast away the vegetation is perhaps, IMHO, more important now than to place gold on the pillars. Also cheaper. The metal railing is rusty and pitted. It will not cost much now to clean them up, fill in the pitted parts, apply proper primer and durable paint. Left as it is with paint over rusted parts is a sheer waste of time and money, it will make future painting more expensive.
Pilgrims carrying stones can do little to repair the slippery uneven cobbled paving, or to repair the worn figurines adorning the grand entrance. These figurines/statues seem to have been carved out of soft rock so the lifespan is near its end. The rocks could perhaps be used to build a new toilet as the present toilet down a long sloping alley, next to the Police Station, will not be able to cope with the expected rush of pilgrims in 2010.
Grandpa Joe