The tomb of Santa Mariña de Augas Santas dates back to the fourth century - Allariz, Ourense, Galicia, España - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

"It is a living monument," says restorer Ana Rodríguez about the tomb of Santa Mariña de Augas Santas. A granite pantheon, in which Santa Mariña has been buried since 138, whose polychromes and gilding - covered with multiple repaints and lime and soot - are resurfacing with the work carried out by the company Dextra Restauración for the fourth week in this church ( 11th century) of the municipality of Allariz.
With the cleaning of the multiple repaints made on the monument in the last century - up to nine layers appeared in the tastings sent to the laboratory for restoration - "spectacular" blue and gold colors, reds and garish greens have come out. "They were used a lot in the Baroque for funerary monuments," explains Rodríguez. The restoration process of the tomb was preceded by an investigation of the factory books by the restorers Ana Rodríguez and Rubén Compés, which led to the discovery of the monument's history. Its 1900 years of history. Although Santa Mariña was buried in the second century, there were already previous pagan rituals in the place. And it remains a place full of legends and magic. From the three sources that sprouted in each jump from the severed head to Mariña for refusing to marry a Roman prefect until the earth spat out the burials of the bishops who wanted to be buried there in the 15th and 16th centuries. Legends that continue to this day.
In these books, the restorers documented that the first four columns of the funerary monument that serve as a niche are in the Visigothic style (4th century), to which eight others and a plinth were added in the 12th century. A fact that corrects the antiquity attributed to the tomb that was believed to be medieval like the church, but which is as old as that of Santiago de Compostela, of which it is contemporary in style and time, details Rodríguez. In the 15th century the pantheon was raised and the Bishop of Ourense had it painted. In the following century, the church suffered a fire. In the seventeenth century, the dome carved in wood was added, the cleaning of which the restorers have been working on in the first three weeks. Of the original polychrome hardly anything is preserved, specialists appreciate. Not only was it overpainted several times, but it was sanded, coats were applied without binders that made them stick together creating a hard to remove amalgam. To this were added several whitewashes and the soot that blackens the tomb and made it impossible to see the colors.
Dextra restorers are painstakingly removing the repaints they can, consolidating those coats that are homogeneous and in good condition, setting the paint, and stuccoing. “We also do the chromatic restoration of lagoons. It is the process that differentiates a restorer from a painter. It is not the same to reintegrate than to paint. A restorer only reintegrates, up close you can see that he has been intervened ”, clarifies Ana Rodríguez. "This is the first time a real restoration has been done"The restoration of the tomb of Santa Mariña de Aguas Santas has to be completed in December. In addition to the intervention in the church, the restorers will also carry out a similar process on the six polychrome wooden sculptures that complete the set. The main one is a sculpture of Santa Mariña, from the Baroque period.
Until now the canopy had not fallen into the hands of a professional restorer, considers Ana Rodríguez. “This is the first time that a real restoration has been done. Until now they had been almost attacks on the patrimony ”, sentence. The church and the entire complex of Santa Mariña de Augas Santas are one of the great attractions of the municipality of Allariz and from its tourist office they continually send visitors to the temple. "Every day people come from Jaén, Granada ...", confirms the restaurateur. And it is that the monument is still alive and with legends and traditions that continue, such as the loan of land that people take in a bag and with it a tea is made to which they attribute properties to promote pregnancies, says the restorer.
The sepulcher is recovering its vividness and color with the removal of dirt and soot, but the church -declared a historic-artistic monument in 1931- has other valuable elements such as a Mudejar coffered ceiling from the 15th century and Renaissance paintings, which would also deserve a restoration . For now, it is the pantheon of the saint that is regaining a leading role that it did not lose despite past attacks.

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Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 10/13/2016 Publication: La Voz de Galicia Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: regional News Category: Arts/Culture

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