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A Spanish Mystery: Is a ‘Masked Restorer’ to Blame for a Church’s Botched Repair?

jungleboy

Spirit of the Camino (Nick)
Time of past OR future Camino
Some in the past; more in the future!
An article in the New York Times today:

A Spanish Mystery: Is a ‘Masked Restorer’ to Blame for a Church’s Botched Repair?

It's about another poor restoration job, this time concerning visible modern cement showing in an arch of a Romanesque church in Castronuño, about 50km east of Zamora. This made news recently in Spain but apparently the cement has been there for over 20 years. Considering this and other poor, newsworthy restoration attempts that we have discussed here before, this is probably the key takeaway of the article:

It could be said that the problem of Castronuño is the problem of Spain: This ancient land just has too many old things in need of fixing. There are Phoenician forts, Celtic castles, Moorish minarets, Roman ramparts, granite Greek graves — all left by bygone civilizations that came here conquering, all bent on leaving something for posterity.
 
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An article in the New York Times today:

A Spanish Mystery: Is a ‘Masked Restorer’ to Blame for a Church’s Botched Repair?

It's about another poor restoration job, this time concerning visible modern cement showing in an arch of a Romanesque church in Castronuño, about 50km east of Zamora. This made news recently in Spain but apparently the cement has been there for over 20 years. Considering this and other poor, newsworthy restoration attempts that we have discussed here before, this is probably the key takeaway of the article:
Jungleboy,
Thank you for reporting this sad update. Unfortunately it is not only in Spain that such problems exist; world wide there so much that should be kept and too little to keep it. For example see this UNESCO list of World Heritage in Danger
 
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An article in the New York Times today:

A Spanish Mystery: Is a ‘Masked Restorer’ to Blame for a Church’s Botched Repair?

It's about another poor restoration job, this time concerning visible modern cement showing in an arch of a Romanesque church in Castronuño, about 50km east of Zamora. This made news recently in Spain but apparently the cement has been there for over 20 years. Considering this and other poor, newsworthy restoration attempts that we have discussed here before, this is probably the key takeaway of the article:
I saw that article also. It’s a real problem in Italy as well, of course. And probably in all the countries bordering the Mediterranean, because civilization and culture has been here so long. So many things that need restoration/ conservation and not enough money or qualified individuals to do it.

In the United States, I sometimes work in historic art restoration in buildings, and I can tell you, it takes a lot of time and costs a fortune. At least If you want to do it right.

And even though they’re used interchangeably, conservation and restoration mean different things. Conservation means conserving what’s there, what’s remaining. Restoration properly mean re-creating what was originally there.

And it’s hard to know the details, but it’s possible that whoever put that concrete there prevented it from collapsing. So I think it’s unsure if that was such a terrible idea. If they just had a little bit of idea what they were doing, they could’ve used something like the historic mortar, with a tint added so it’s not obvious. In this specific instance the real problem is that the concrete is probably harder than the stone, and you actually want to put something in there that’s not harder, because it may cause cracking in the stone. ( A real trained stone and building conservator might say something else).

In the United States, there’s a small Benedictine order based in Chicago that advises Catholic churches on restoration projects, basically pro bono. Just so nobody does anything too stupid. Probably there is something like that in Spain, but there’s just too many buildings, and too much historic art and decoration. Only the real high profile stuff gets paid any attention.
 
An article in the New York Times today:

A Spanish Mystery: Is a ‘Masked Restorer’ to Blame for a Church’s Botched Repair?

It's about another poor restoration job, this time concerning visible modern cement showing in an arch of a Romanesque church in Castronuño, about 50km east of Zamora. This made news recently in Spain but apparently the cement has been there for over 20 years. Considering this and other poor, newsworthy restoration attempts that we have discussed here before, this is probably the key takeaway of the article:
It is true — there is just *so much* to try to take care of…

I once stayed in a small village in Tuscany where the desk concierge cursed the bureaucracy involved if one should turn up a bit of pottery while ploughing the fields. *BUT* at that same hotel/resort, one major attraction was the museum of Etruscan objects that had been revealed on the property when a mudslide exposed the ancient Etruscan tombs only a few hundred meters away from the already magnificent Medici villa that was the *other* major attraction.

I am not a believer that every old building should be protected, but without a significant portion of the treasures preserved, maintained, restored when possible… then the entire rationale for going on ‘grand tours’ and the education they provide is lost. With that loss would also go billions of dollars a year in travel….

(And then there’s the flip side: preventing the awful imprints of excess travel, espeially of what the sociologist George Ritzer has described as a “McDonaldized” menu of shallow experiences).

For those with the inclination and interest in the Etruscans, the archeological site, museum and fantastic retreat are to be found in Artimino… about 15 K out of Florence, not far from Prato, and most near to a station at the bottom of the hill, in a small town called “Signe”.
 
Thanks, @jungleboy, this is very interesting. I remember the similar uproar about the Ecce Homo mentioned in the NYT article. It’s actually on the Camino Castellano Aragonés, so you might have time to visit on your upcoming camino.

The church in Castronuño is on the Levante, on the day into Toro. I remember we went to the mirador over the Duero but for some reason didn’t see or walk by the church, which looks to be a stone’s throw away. FYI, Castronuño also has an albergue funded in part by a grant from APOC.

But more on point to the original post, there are so many small churches all across Spain in similar condition. Even if these villages were thriving, it’s hard to imagine there’d be enough money to keep them all in good shape. It will be interesting to see if this outcry results in a grant from the government or some non-profit.
 
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IIRC it is considered good practice to repair using a different coloured mortar to the original. Adding 'history' to the historic.
That sounds like a good idea as well. In my experience with these projects it often depends on what protocols whoever is supervising the work believes In. I’m usually just a worker bee.

I think what’s a bit funny about this whole article is that there’s this great mystery about who performed the work. Of course it was someone local who had a great interest in the church. People know, But they’re just not saying.
 
Both Stephan the Painter and Finisterre have valid points. I am a historic preservationist and architectural historian. When it comes to architecture and monuments, the Standards require us to "stabilize, consolidate and conserve materials and features from the restoration period will be physically and visually compatible, identifiable upon close inspection and properly documented for future research." Very similar materials but not so much as to fool the eye of researchers.
What we generally call "Portland Cement" is only to be used to replace the same material. It is the bane of my field! As said, it is so hard that it causes an accelerated loss of historic materials such as mortar or stone. When I went up to the top of Mont Saint Michel, the ancient stairs were dangerously disintegrating thanks to the use of incompatible cement. Unfortunately, most of these repairs were done with the best intentions before anyone knew how bad cement would be for the historic materials and that it would render future preservation efforts nearly impossible.
 
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Unfortunately it is not only in Spain that such problems exist; world wide there so much that should be kept and too little to keep it. For example see this UNESCO list of World Heritage in Danger
We are seeing for ourselves how buildings turn themselves into archaeological sites. It takes a ton of money to resist thermodynamics.
 
I couldn't read this without a subscription...
@Anniesantiago I would love to read articles like this, but I am unwilling to pay for a subscription just to read an article or two a month that someone links. I wish the big-time media would allow non-subscribers to read a limited number of articles per month for free. Many smaller newspapers and magazines do this. Who knows, perhaps some of us would be enticed by the content to subscribe.
 
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It's a good thing that this has been brought to a wider attention and even better when the mayor and the town of Castronuño will now get the funds for proper repair and conservation work. It is apparently a "working" church and not a museum piece. Below is a photo that I found on Flickr, dated 2018, and there is a similar one from 2014. The cement work on the exterior window is easy to see and cannot have come as a surprise in November 2021 when the first article appeared in local media. The smaller photos are those that were published in Spanish media and now in the NYT.

This is not on the same level of outrage or "botched work" as the Borja Ecce Homo, far from it in my opinion but there is a kind of appetite for such news stories. What is sad is the general poor state of the building, inside and also outside. But it seems that something will be done about it.

(Click to enlarge). BTW, three times the same window, colour appears to be different but that's just a 'feature' of photography. Also: Note the pipe through the central window.
Castronuño.jpg
 
I couldn't read this without a subscription. However, I'm pretty sure I saw this story over a year ago. It was a mess if I recall.

@Anniesantiago I would love to read articles like this, but I am unwilling to pay for a subscription just to read an article or two a month that someone links. I wish the big-time media would allow non-subscribers to read a limited number of articles per month for free. Many smaller newspapers and magazines do this. Who knows, perhaps some of us would be enticed by the content to subscribe.
The NYT allows subscribers to share up to ten articles per month with non-subscribers.
This link should allow you to read without a subscription.


Information on sharing articles
 
Another building ruin in Spain, just a few centuries newer.

Actually, I am posting this in the hopes I will be able to learn how to share an article with non-subscribers.


Will a non-subscriber tell me if you can see this article? I guess it has to be someone who has been blocked by the paywall.
 
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Another building ruin in Spain, just a few centuries newer.

Actually, I am posting this in the hopes I will be able to learn how to share an article with non-subscribers.


Will a non-subscriber tell me if you can see this article? I guess it has to be someone who has been blocked by the paywall.


Read the article.
Non - subcriber.
 
Another building ruin in Spain, just a few centuries newer.

Actually, I am posting this in the hopes I will be able to learn how to share an article with non-subscribers.


Will a non-subscriber tell me if you can see this article? I guess it has to be someone who has been blocked by the paywall.
I used a browser in which I'm not signed into the NYT and I was able to open it. As you can see the URL includes "unlocked_article."
 
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Spain is the country in the world with the most works of art according to UNESCO, I think I remember, even ahead of Italy, and if it is not ahead it is very close. It is impossible to maintain so much building, and so much small work as sculptures or paintings.

On the other hand, living all our lives among them makes us used to seeing them in bad or even very bad condition. Another thing is for those who live in more modern countries, in which there is not this abundance that we have, these tourists see everything with different eyes. They appreciate everything differently.

It is certain that those who sometimes do very wrong things do so with their best intention and with the limited means at their disposal.

Sometimes they have to put some very ugly cement between two stones thinking that that way they hold them and the deterioration does not increase.

It can very easily happen that if a complaint reaches a government departament in a region, the small work is paralyzed, they do nothing because there are no funds at that time because other much more important things are being restored, such as cathedrals or altarpieces, and That window that needed fixing of elements remains as it was and the stones that form the arch of a window fall, then part of the roof falls, the church or hermitage begins to fall little by little ... and disappears.

Too much art, and too much habit to live among architectural wonders. And not a few have come down to us thanks to the fact that things were done that we do not see, and that today would be deemed inappropriate, but that prevented a catastrophe. And the best thing about it is that today we see many of those strange things on the facades of churches, all over Spain, as strange things (who sees them ...) but integrated into their history and therefore not so rare or even invisible.
 
Slight segue but since paywall has been mentioned several times…

In regards to many paywall news sites, I have noticed on some sites on my iPad that choosing the ‘reader’ will for some reason bypass the paywall. The reader view generally makes things easier to read on and changes the screen to remove many ads and some photos. Not sure why exactly or if it is a bug of the website or the reader and I also do not know if other competing devices will do a ‘reader’. Obviously this could change at anytime. I hesitate to pass this along as I don’t wish to pass along ways to pinch news…but there it is.
 
That sounds like a good idea as well. In my experience with these projects it often depends on what protocols whoever is supervising the work believes In. I’m usually just a worker bee.

I think what’s a bit funny about this whole article is that there’s this great mystery about who performed the work. Of course it was someone local who had a great interest in the church. People know, But they’re just not saying.
these are the basic principles here in England- I'd be surprised if the Spanish ones differ much.

 
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Will a non-subscriber tell me if you can see this article? I guess it has to be someone who has been blocked by the paywall.
As others have said the article is now visible. I would normally not mention this but I am as I can add that I recently accidentally hit the link to the article and was denied access to the full article.
 
I hesitate to pass this along as I don’t wish to pass along ways to pinch news…but there it is.
On this topic, here is a possibly less guilt-inducing way of subscribing to the New York Times. I started subscribing almost two years ago because I saw a deal for $2/month for one year, which I think is tremendous value. At the end of the year, they asked me to renew for the normal price (I don't remember what it was, but perhaps $8/month). I declined and thought that was the end of it. But then they offered me my original deal again, so I gladly accepted it for one more year.

If non-subscribers are interested in subscribing at that rate, look for a discount ad or maybe even go through the process of signing up at the normal rate but don't follow through with the final payment and they may come back and offer you the discount.
 
The NYT allows subscribers to share up to ten articles per month with non-subscribers.
This link should allow you to read without a subscription.


Information on sharing articles
As one who noted the inability to read the article without a subscription, I'd like to thank the Times subscriber who shared the unlocked article. ¡Muchas gracias!
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
On this topic, here is a possibly less guilt-inducing way of subscribing to the New York Times. I started subscribing almost two years ago because I saw a deal for $2/month for one year, which I think is tremendous value. At the end of the year, they asked me to renew for the normal price (I don't remember what it was, but perhaps $8/month). I declined and thought that was the end of it. But then they offered me my original deal again, so I gladly accepted it for one more year.

If non-subscribers are interested in subscribing at that rate, look for a discount ad or maybe even go through the process of signing up at the normal rate but don't follow through with the final payment and they may come back and offer you the discount.
What I do is a slight alteration on that. They offered me a one dollar a week subscription, going up to four dollars a week at the end of the year. I just called them up and threatened to cancel it unless they extend it for another year. And they did it. Hopefully I can keep that up for a while, because I think four dollars a week is a little too much for digital content. The New York Times is nice, but I’m not going die without it.

I can also get past the firewall using the private mode with the Brave browser on Apple IOS products.
 
It is certain that those who sometimes do very wrong things do so with their best intention and with the limited means at their disposal.

Sometimes they have to put some very ugly cement between two stones thinking that that way they hold them and the deterioration does not increase.
I agree with you, I think that sometimes small interventions to save something from collapsing is the way to go. A necessity.

But a conversation at the hardware store or a tiny bit of research would tell you that you shouldn’t use cement on old stone walls. Mortar instead. It’s different. Also softer, so it can be more easily removed if there’s ever time and money for a more thorough repair.

So this repair really was just a guerrilla repair by someone who had absolutely no idea what they were doing. And didn’t even bother to ask a few questions. I suspect it was done with love, though.

It doesn’t rise anywhere near to the level of the the “beast Jesus” restoration, but it’s in the same category. Even just a little thought would’ve shown you you weren’t doing the right thing.

As I said, I work sometimes in historic building conservation and restoration, but I actually work with interior painted art (nothing structural ever). Usually painted designs or murals. And I can tell you, we were laughing about the “beast Jesus“ restoration for years, and using it to tease people when they did substandard work. People even had T-shirts, Ha! It was so sad, it was funny.
 
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What I do is a slight alteration on that. They offered me a one dollar a week subscription, going up to four dollars a week at the end of the year. I just called them up and threatened to cancel it unless they extend it for another year. And they did it. Hopefully I can keep that up for a while, because I think four dollars a week is a little too much for digital content. The New York Times is nice, but I’m not going die without it.

I can also get past the firewall using the private mode with the Brave browser on Apple IOS products.
You may also want to check to see if your local public library has a NYT e-subscription available to members. I know, for example, that the Toronto Public Library (membership free to anyone who lives, works, or owns property in Toronto) has a subscription available to all members. Other public libraries may be similar.
 
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