Entering and preserving the tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage of peoples turns out to be one of the most complex things in existence, because it is a Comanche region where they exist, and they risk being cut off if anyone tries to do so. .
This is an esoteric realm laden with an ambiguous and intolerable subjectivity, dominated by certain sanhedrins who make their living on it, always doing it with other people’s money, never responsible for the mistakes and harms of themselves and their decisions. causes in countless cases.
Having said that, I want to say that I am a fan of Inherited Heritage, having traveled through Spain seeing and photographing it and studying it at my own pace for over twenty years: I love it, I appreciate it, and I appreciate it. I think what’s valuable in this regard should be respected and guarded above walls. But here lies the Gordian knot of the matter, we disagree on what the built parts are, which parts should be preserved and how we should do it, for example with the buildings of the Plaza de la Antigua. Blue Section.
Another example is in the Parking Lot on the slope of the castle, strictly to preserve one square meter of the Alicante wall, as if it were a goldfinch in a cage, and also covered with a black tarp for years, they lost the structure and, as I recall, about seven parking spaces. And you know the saddest thing that no Alicante knows what’s in the cage that surrounds it, except those in charge of such a cage. On the other hand, a magnificent 15th-century monastery in Cáceres, Garrovillas, collapses with its cloister, vaults and magnificent Gothic church, as there are no resources other than a chicken coop to protect it. In short, this is the stuff of our Spain. But let’s go to Fuente de Los Luceros.
To me, the true value of fountain sculptures lies in the sketches and molds that Daniel Bañuls made for him in 1930, everything else is irrelevant and was left in the hands of some worker who did not do this work. The material the molds were filled with was a poor quality porous mortar that could not adequately protect the irons that internally support the built parts from oxidation, as it carbonated with CO2 in the air. Temperature, humidity, and oxygen were responsible for penetrating the mortars and gradually oxidizing the interior metal parts of the sculptures. When the metal is oxidized, its volume increases by about eight times, and when it expands, the mortar that covers it gradually cracks, and thus the cancer of the fountain sculptures develops. I think, from the beginning of the cracks, the maskletás started to do some damage to the monument and not before. How to correct the metallic oxidation inside these parts is very complex, traumatic and difficult, as most of the steels in the condition they are in need to be replaced. It’s been a long time and money, they have to act with the patterns that exist for them, and if they don’t exist, they have to practically exist with certainty. Placing stainless steel, fiberglass or carbon rods in the molds and filling them again with a mortar with resins and propylene fibers and a water-repellent additive will be enough to keep the sculptures intact for over 100 years, with and without masklets. . I anticipate that this philosophy will be applied, at least in part, in the final restoration, for the previous ones were all toasts to the sun, given the results achieved. Another thing is the dangers that any cluster carries with it, if it were applied both in Valencia in Fallas, in Pamplona in San Fermines, and in San Periquín del Mono, it would have to be studied with great care, because they exist. . Alcaraz will certainly accuse me of being a denier, but what do we do, one is the way he is, and at my age, at least with certain doses of technique and a little common sense, I won’t stop saying what I think. something that not many do.