The restoration works of the Chapel of the Relics of the church of Nª Sª de la Antigua, are progressing adequately. The bulk of the work will soon be finished, although there will be many touch-ups left for the complete completion of the restoration work.

Today we add here some photos of the floral backgrounds that, due to being semi-hidden behind thick oxidized varnishes, were not appreciated in their luminosity and splendor. Serve this as a sample button to understand the impact that the fully restored altar will produce. The photos correspond to the central niche, and the polychrome wooden coffered ceiling of the chapel. Our congratulations to the restoration team.

Once the work has been tendered and in the absence of the signature by the winning company, the restoration of the Chapel of the Relics will begin. Due to its complexity, the restoration will last an estimated time of six months, so hopefully by July we will be able to enjoy this new rehabilitated space. Probably, given its state, part of the altarpiece will have to be dismantled in order to renew the fastenings and restore its verticality and horizontality. The floor will be renewed in the same way and it will be seen to avoid the leaks that apparently exist in the wall of the façade. We will provide information on the development of these works.

On the 29th, the delivery of the work carried out in the six side chapels of the church of the Real Colegio de los Escolapios was officially delivered. With this act, the interventions in these chapels are completed, the result being a magnificent return to its former splendor. The works have been financed by the Consellería de Cultura and supervised by the Dirección Xeral do Patrimonio.

It now remains to wait for the start of the restoration of the Chapel of the Relics, which will take much longer, since the magnificent Baroque altarpiece will probably have to be completely dismantled and then reassembled safely, correcting the problems it now has.

The FCNSdlA plans to begin work on the new lighting in February, at which time the reconstruction of part of the recently sunken floor of the sacristy will be addressed.

We attach here a QR code through which we request donations of €20 to deal with these works not supported by the Xunta and some pending restorations that are of great interest to us.

The Writer Dolores Redondo made her first presentation at the Pinacoteca of the Royal College of the PP: Escolapios on December 21 in an exclusive act, before the official presentation that would take place a couple of hours later in the Monforte Multipurpose Pavilion.

Her new novel “Waiting for the Deluge” is the seventh novel by Dolores Redondo, a writer born in San Sebastián in 1969 who became a bestseller with the enormous success of her Baztán trilogy, a series that began in 2013 with El guardián invisible that mixes the noir genre with Basque myths and legends. With Offering to the Storm (2014) she closed that trilogy and began working on her next work with the challenge of sustaining the popularity that the three previous titles had brought her.

The vineyards of Minho

In Todo esto te daré, Dolores Redondo replaces the mists of the mountains in the north of Navarra with that of the slopes that fall into the Miño river in the Ribeira Sacra, but she does not change the tone. Her first novel after the Baztán novels is also a detective story wrapped in mysterious landscapes. The awarding of the Planeta prize helped him to keep the attention of the public, and to exceed sales figures that were difficult to improve. But it also had an unexpected effect on the Ribeira Sacra, which lived with All this will give you an unprecedented boost in popularity for a tourist territory that at that time was trying to establish itself as such and that today continues to receive visitors seeking the landscapes described in that novel.

The work of restoration and conservation of the altarpiece of Santo Cristo is completed. It is an anonymous altarpiece of carved, stuccoed, gilded and polychrome wood, from the first third of the 17th century in a classicist/mannerist style, whose image is made in marble by Valerio Cioli (1529-1599).

The state of conservation that it presented is not good, as stated in the project carried out by the restoration company TAU in charge of its restoration. Losses of matter originated by attacks of xylophagous insects can be seen on the support; misalignments of pieces and anachronistic additions such as a luminaire inside the niche, a modern altar front and the dimensional modification of the altar table and the stands.

As regards polychromy, it presented generalized blackening over the entire surface and a large number of wax drips, especially in the lower parts.

The sculpture, at the support level, was also covered in a layer of superficial dirt, and stains that darkened the marble. In addition, it presents breaks with displacements of the left pulse and arms, as well as the lack of two fingers of the right hand.

After the removal of the current front, it has been possible to confirm the existence of the original front. Its typology responds to the format of fronts that imitate fabrics with repeating floral decorations, all closed with a decorative frame, in this case with marbling in greenish tones. Part of the lower frame is hidden under a current pine wood flooring.

The main objective of the conservation and restoration works is none other than the protection and consolidation of the strata in danger of detachment; structural reinforcement treatment; disinsection; mechanical and chemical cleaning; sealing of cracks, holes and joints; and volumetric reintegration of the support.

A revision of the anchorages of the Christ and the cross was also carried out by means of an endoscopic camera due to the scarce separation of the bottom of the niche and the wall. After the revision, it has been possible to verify a slight unevenness of the cross forward that does not allow the arms to be brought to their original position, in addition to appreciating small loose elements on the wall just at the height of the anchors.

Although in principle it does not seem to present much instability, this area and the leveling of the withers will be further reviewed, requiring a partial disassembly of the rear part to reinforce the fastening points.

The original dimensions will also be returned to both the altar table and the stands.

From the Chapel of Nª Sª de los Dolores:

The predella of the altarpiece of the Virgen de los Dolores was painted with a thick layer of brown paint applied at the time to integrate the whole with the wooden step that rests on the altar. When the restoration work began, it was possible to verify that this repainting was on the original polychromy that shows the rest of the niche. Therefore, the decision was made to remove the overpainting to recover the ocher marbling that the predella originally had. Using a combination of solvent gels and in some cases removing the brown paint at the point of a scalpel, the desired result has been achieved. What we can see in the following images:

Next Friday, November 18, at the headquarters of the Royal College of Nª Sª de la Antigua and at 5:00 p.m. the acts of the Celebration of Heritage Day will begin, which this year the Council of Galician Culture will celebrate in our center with the following program:

Friday, November 18,

5:00 p.m. Presentation

5:30 p.m. Round table: The College of Our Lady of Antigua. Example of heritage education. Moderator: Mª Xosé Porteiro, , Vicevaledora do Pobo

5:30 p.m. Documentary study for the declaration as BIC of the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de la Antigua. Led by Luísa Serrano, architect, Mª Dolores Lago, historian and restorer.

6:15 p.m. Social participation in the declaration process as a BIC. Study of the social value of the Cardenal building and the heritage education project of the school. Given by Mª del Mar Bóveda, educator and researcher at USC (GI-RODA). Specialist in heritage education and in the enhancement of cultural heritage

6:45 p.m. The execution of the heritage education project in the center. Given by Pablo Blanco, director of the Colegio Padres Escolapios (Monforte), and students of the center

7:15 p.m. Debate

Saturday, November 19

10:00 a.m. The history of the building of Nosa Señora da Antiga. By Fr. Francisco Javier Agudo, Manager of the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de la Antigua Foundation and head of the Real Colegio PP. Piarists.

10:45 Recent rehabilitation projects; In charge of Manuel Freire, architect, director of the rehabilitation works of the building

11:30 a.m. Institutional visit to the building and art gallery, guided by students from ESO do school.

12:30 pm Institutional visit to the rehabilitation works, directed by the architect director of the works, the manager of the Colegio de Nuestra Señora de la Antigua Foundation and the director of the Real Colegio PP. Piarists.

In fact, in the previous preparatory work for the restoration of the side chapels, another predella was discovered behind the predella of the Santo Cristo de Cioli chapel, probably the original one decorated with a magnificent flourish. We hope that after the restoration the original can be seen, duly protected and restored.

On Monday, October 3, the restoration of the side chapels and the pulpit has begun, a task that is addressed by the General Directorate of Heritage of Galicia. This much-needed task will be carried out by the CREA company, which will undertake the restoration and cleaning of the pulpit, and the Adoration, San Francisco, Virgen de los Dolores and San José chapels. It will have an estimated time of two and a half months for its realization.

Another company will tackle the restoration of the chapel of Christ of Cioli.

We hope that the inconvenience will be minimal and that we will soon be able to enjoy the view of the chapels as a whole, restored and in perfect condition.

Next Sunday, September 18 at 7:30 p.m., a concert by the Galician Chamber Orchestra corresponding to the cycle “XACOBEO EN CÁMARA” will take place in the Church of Nª Sª de la Antigua.

The Colegio de Nª Sª de la Antigua Foundation collaborates with the Galician Chamber Orchestra, along with other institutions in the organization of said concert.