Oviedo (EFE).- The Government of Asturias has initiated the procedures to declare the buildings, gardens and artistic collections that make up the Quinta de Selgas, located in El Pito (Cudillero).
The Official Gazette of the Principality has published this Monday the initiation of the file to grant comprehensive protection to this complex due to its “relevant historical value.”
The administrative procedure to declare BIC will last a maximum of two years and will have to obtain the mandatory reports from the Academy of History, the University of Oviedo and the Royal Institute of Asturian Studies (Ridea), the regional Executive has reported.
In the event that the opinions are favourable, the Heritage Council will be the body in charge of definitively approving the declaration.
La Quinta de Selgas, one of the most important architectural, historical-artistic and landscape complexes in the community, is made up of buildings, gardens and artistic collections promoted and brought together by the brothers Fortunato and Ezequiel de Selgas Albuerne, patrons and promoters of important works social in the second half of the 19th century.
The heritage complex
The heritage complex of the Selgas-Fagalde family in El Pito includes, in addition to the main estate of La Quinta, which includes the palace, the gardens and the tapestry pavilion; a church-pantheon with its sacristy, the rectory and schools, as well as artistic collections and documentary and bibliographic elements.
The buildings constitute one of the most outstanding architectural ensembles in Asturias within an eclectic historicist style, although with guidelines quite faithful to neoclassicism.
The mansion, whose construction and decoration work was directed by Fortunato Selgas himself between the 80s and 90s of the 19th century, largely preserves its original decoration and houses artistic works by notable painters, as well as an extensive collection of furniture and decorative elements (porcelain, clocks, fans, etc.) and a large library.
The collecting practice of the Selgas brothers configured a rich and diverse set of high quality paintings, sculptures and decorative arts.
The collection began in 1885 and most of the decorative arts -furniture, watches, porcelain, etc.- come from France.
As for the paintings, national acquisitions predominate, series on loose works and the absence of contemporary painting.
The painting “The Annunciation” by El Greco stands out especially, for which Cultura launched the file process last January to declare this work BIC, an oil on canvas measuring 109 × 57 centimeters, very similar to the one in the Oballe chapel , from Toledo. EFE