Among the assets that the tEmployer of San Juan Evangelista in La Losa (Segovia) there is the image of Our Lady of Ceponespatron saint of the city: an image of a candlestick or chest of drawers, only the face and hands are carved and polychrome and she wears a historical cloak, of great artistic value, which, according to oral tradition, is a gift from the Infanta Isabel de Borbón and Borbón, who felt great devotion for her. An “essential” piece that now seems to have been renewed after an intervention that allowed its aesthetic recovery.
The Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Gonzalo Santonjapresented this Saturday with the mayor of the city, Mercedes Otero; to the diocesan delegate of heritage of Segovia, José María Rubio, and to the representative of the parish of San Juan Evangelista, Verónica Vallejo, the restoration work of the mantle of Our Lady of Cepones that allows the image to be renewed to be reused, if exceptional, in the festive celebrations of the city of Segovia.
The intervention carried out on the mantle of the Virgin of Cepones, which cost 7,000 euros, was covered 50 percent by the Agency and the parish of San Juan Evangelista; the City Council, for its part, covered the costs of the transfer insurance.
In this sense, Santonja emphasized that “this heritage which forms our experiencesleads us, whatever our particular beliefs, to identify with the church of our village or its virgin, like that of Cepones, and encourages us to participate, year after year, in its different patronal or processional celebrations, like those that will take place tomorrow, on the occasion of the festivities in honor of the Virgin of Cepones and San Roque.
Furthermore, he recalled that “we are all guardians of this cultural heritage and we are all called to take care of it and promote it and, in this sense, the management of cultural heritage must be guided.” cultural heritageas stated in the recently approved Cultural Heritage Law of Castilla y León.
Although the fabric was not in very bad condition, it presented a deterioration that, if not treated and stabilized, could have degenerated into alterations more difficult to resolve. The objective of the treatments applied was the conservation and restoration of the textile material with the aim of stabilizing and giving coherence to the different pieces that make up the whole, to be preserved in the long term, and at the same time allow its use. in a timely manner, informs the Council in a statement.
The actions proposed in Segovia were: eliminate dirt and cleaning products deterioration on the work; providing flexibility and resistance by moisturizing the fibers to restore elasticity and shine; eliminating deformations and wrinkles present in the tissues, facilitating their understanding and reading; conservation of the material through the consolidation and reintegration of structurally weakened areas, as well as the development of preventive conservation guidelines.
