The restoration of the Portico of Glory, which took place between 2006 and 2018, has been one of the most ambitious, lengthy and complex projects that the Fundación Barrié has faced in recent years. The ultimate objective has been to promote the concept that “the best conservation strategy is education” and to work to raise society’s awareness of the fact that conserving heritage has to be a shared responsibility.
Hence, the Fundación Barrié is continuing to work on disseminating this project, using the most innovative tools available such as the gigapixel image shown here. For the first time, this makes it possible to explore details in the monument that cannot be seen with the naked eye.
Imagen gigapíxel Pórtico de la Gloria © Fundación Barrié
The super-high-resolution digitalization (gigapixel) of the approximately 200m2 that compose the monument required 14 uninterrupted hours of image capturing during which over 2,700 photographs were taken with ROB, an intelligent gigapixel robot.
The image is complemented with small narrations in the form of interactive storytelling, which describe the iconography of the Portico, the materials and techniques used, the instruments that appear in it, or the complex conservation and restoration process undertaken.
This image was taken in July 2020 while other areas of the cathedral continued to undergo intense restoration works. This is why the Portico of Glory appears as being enclosed, as a temporary, preventive measure for its conservation. We have sought to present the monument as any visitor would see it at this time.
BEFORE AND AFTER THE RESTORATION
Seeing the before-and-after effect of these figures is not only an opportunity to understand the scope of the restoration project but is also a journey through time in the context of two paradigms: polychrome sculpting, which dominated most of art history, and the monochrome sculpting that we are accustomed to seeing in both Italian Renaissance and Romantic paradigms. It is a way of re-educating our taste so that we can appreciate the true color of the Middle Ages and the Romanesque era.
3D INSTRUMENTS
In an unprecedented multidisciplinary project, the Fundación Barrié built reproductions of the Portico of Glory’s instruments in wood, faithfully working on the models sculpted by Master Mateo. This app shows us a selection of these instruments in 3D photo format so that they can be rotated and appreciated in their entirety. This section is complemented with a storyline on the instruments, in which you can listen to how they would have sounded in the twelfth century.
The restoration of the Portico of Glory is one of the most recent projects that the Barrié Foundation has undertaken in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, but its links with the basilica go back many years, specifically to 1968. In its commitment to preserve and disseminate Galicia’s cultural heritage, between 1992 and 1999, the entity promoted the reconstruction of Master Mateo’s stone choir, which time had turned into a tempting puzzle with loose pieces inside and outside the cathedral. The research carried out as part of the project has enabled the reconstruction of more than 50% of the high choir stalls in their original layout, as well as the creation of a complete model reproducing the choir as it was originally. The complete digital version of this model has now been incorporated into this application so that the user can explore the different façades, as well as delve deeper into their iconographic significance and the criteria for their reconstruction.
Reconstruction of the different façades
The images of the north and south façades of Master Mateo’s choir, as well as of the choir stalls and the retrochoir, are complemented by small narratives that enrich user experience and introduce details about the history of the preserved pieces, their iconographic significance and their restitution with the double criterion of reversibility and visibility of the built part. There is also no shortage of hypotheses about the original location of these elements.
Recreation of the original location
Through a 3D reconstruction that recreates the place that the choir would have occupied in its original location, the application allows us to delve into the details of the history, destruction and subsequent reconstruction of Mateo’s choir as part of the project for the recovery of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, whose germ is in a study by professors Ramón Yzquierdo Perrín and Ramón Otero Túñez published by the Barrié Foundation.
Second Canvas app
This is an innovative tool which allows you to explore the Portico of Glory in super-high resolution as never seen before. Discover, learn and enjoy the stories told by experts through the storylines, details about the restoration, and 3D reconstructions of the musical instruments in the work.
Main Features:
- Superzoom for exploring the Portico of Glory with the best quality possible thanks to the gigapixel resolution.
- Narrations on key figures and details in the Portico, its symbolism, causes of deterioration, intervention, etc. Even listen to how the instruments depicted in it would have sounded.
- Audio-tour exploring the Portico and its details, explanatory videos, etc..
- A perspective of before and after the restoration of areas and elements, key to understanding the scope of the work carried out.
- 3D reproduction of the instruments that appear in the Portico, with interactive explanations of their features and elements.
- Free app available in Spanish, Galician and English.
- For both iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android smartphones and tablets.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP AT
Second Canvas Pórtico de la Gloria © Fundación Barrié, 2020
Imagen gigapixel Pórtico de la Gloria ©Fundación Barrié
Instrumentos Pórtico de la Gloria 3D ©Fundación Barrié
Imágenes del después de la restauración del Profeta Daniel; Evangelista San Marcos; Profeta Oseas; Profeta Joel y Apóstol San Pablo ©Fundación Barrié y Fundación Catedral de Santiago