In the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, there are around 200 places or monuments declared Cultural Assets of Interest, known by its acronym BIC. Despite being protected spaces due to their high value, this does not prevent various issues from arising around them. The latest has taken place in the municipality in northern Tenerife of El Tanque.
In a similar event to the Ecce Homo, the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Good Journey of El Tanque has requested the expulsion of the priest from the parish of San Antonio de Padua after causing serious damage to protected frescoes. The church has been declared as BIC since November 17, 2011 and these frescoes were located in the presbytery area of the church.
Many residents have risen up against Héctor Lunar Guevara, the priest of the location, who ordered scraping and painting on the sides of the presbytery of the parish, which were protected with special paint. These frescoes date back to the 18th century, in other words, they were made over 300 years ago. A work of art in distress.
This act was carried out, as pointed out by the Brotherhood, “without knowledge of the artistic wealth behind the white paint, without the approval of Heritage, something mandatory, nor did the City Council have any knowledge of it“.
A challenging issue to fix
The mayor of the municipality in northern Tenerife, Esther Morales, confirmed that this incident caused damage to the frescoes. In addition to removing the protective layer, the parish priest instructed workers to use traditional white paint on them.
Specialists from the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of the Canary Islands are in the parish of San Antonio de Padua analyzing whether it is possible to rescue these frescoes or, on the contrary, they will be lost forever.
