La Laguna will restore the sculpture of Father Anchieta

The City Council of La Laguna, from the Historical Heritage area, will undertake the restoration of the sculpture dedicated to San José de Anchieta, better known as Padre Anchieta, currently located in the gardens of the central campus of the University of La Laguna. To do this, it will first hire a series of analytical studies and cleaning tests in situ necessary as a step prior to drawing up the restoration project for the sculpture, as explained in the document prepared by the International Center for Heritage Conservation Foundation (Cicop ).

The realization of these analyzes and the drafting of the restoration project suppose a budget of 13,696 euros, although there is a subsidy from the Cabildo that covers 50% of the amount, that is, 6,848 euros.

The Cicop Foundation had already issued a report, in 2021, in which it had carried out a study on the state of the sculpture, and in which it was recommended that “preventive conservation” of the monument, located at that time in the roundabout, be carried out of the same name at the entrance to La Laguna, where it has been mostly since its inauguration in 1960. In the report they pointed out that the work “does not present a serious deterioration in its state of conservation”, although it did suffer from various damages “due to the exposure of the work to an urban atmosphere subjected to direct exposure to road traffic” and “the little care that has been taken with the sculpture” throughout its entire existence. For this reason, a change of location of the work was also recommended, specifically to its current space in the gardens of the ULL, although it should be remembered that it is temporary while the remodeling work on the new roundabout lasts.

Before drawing up the restoration project, a morpho-chemical and alterological analysis of the sculpture will be carried out, as a first step to determine the nature of the patinas and coatings that were originally applied to the bronze that makes it up, as well as to check if later some type of cleaning, inhibition or protection treatment was applied.

Likewise, an organoleptic inspection of the sculpture and its stone pedestal will be carried out, in order to determine the forms of alteration present, such as oxidation, cracks, corrosion, etc. In both cases, a series of microsamples will be taken for further study in the laboratory.

All these studies will make it possible to determine the number, nature, thickness and state of conservation of the original coatings and subsequent conservation treatments applied, as well as the degree of corrosion that the sculpture presents from the surface to the interior and the state of the stone pedestal that supports it. supports.

Once the organoleptic inspection described has been completed, the types of cleaning tests to be carried out can be defined, although in principle chemical cleaning tests are proposed and, if they are not effective, tests with low-hardness microabrasive projection, such as pumice stone, for example.

Once the morpho-chemical and alterological studies of the sculpture have been completed, and the most appropriate cleaning methods and protection products have been defined, for which a period of two months is expected, the restoration project for the sculpture will be drawn up.