Barcelona (EFE) which was darkening due to dirt accumulated during the last century.
This was explained this Wednesday at the Diocesan Museum of Barcelona by the dean of the cathedral, Santiago Bueno; the conservator of patrimony and canon of the temple, Robert Baró; and the restorers Esther Gual and Ana Ordóñez.
The layer of dirt that the image presented was made up of smoke, varnish and soot, under which an old 19th century polychrome was hidden, the most recent on the image before it darkened as a result of external factors.
This is not the only novelty that has been discovered with the restoration, since to date the image was dated in the 16th century, although now they think that it may date back to an earlier period, probably the 13th century, something that must be confirmed by the experts. researchers in the coming months.
An image cleaned with distilled water and an eraser
The restorer Ana Ordóñez has explained that this dark layer has been easily removed, only with the use of an eraser and hot distilled water, which has revealed the original color of this Christ.
Despite the fact that the image was white in the 19th century, in the current collective imagination of the Catalan capital, the Christ of Lepanto is black, for which reason Robert Baró has justified the decision to return it to its original appearance for the short time it In historical terms, the picture had darkened.
“It was possible to highlight that the polychromy was not only well preserved but that it was of a very high quality”, stated Baró, who also highlighted the advisability of recovering its previous color, since “the blackening of the piece occurs during the 20th century ”.
Asked about the impact it will have on the faithful of this icon, who have always seen the darkened image, he assured that they will be “surprised”, although he hopes that they will fall in love with the new look over time.
The second most revered Catholic image in Catalonia shares a similarity with the Moreneta, which was not originally black either, although in this case it was decided to keep it darkened, since after so many centuries having considered it this color would have meant damage to heritage immaterial.
For his part, the dean of Barcelona Cathedral has highlighted that the material that covered the original polychrome “was smoke and dirt”, and that some pieces had even been painted darkly to match the color it presented.
“We had gotten used to having it dirty, and now we have it clean,” Bueno highlighted regarding the image.
According to tradition, the Santo Cristo de Lepanto in Barcelona was on the flagship of the decisive battle of Lepanto in 1571, which prevented the advance of the Turks on Europe, and its characteristic inclination of the body is attributed to the fact that it dodged a bullet, although also because it covered an open breach in the ship.