Heritage
Sections
Highlight
Sections
Highlight
The new roof of Malaga Cathedral is now beginning to take shape. At twenty past eleven in the morning on Wednesday 20 November, the enormous tower crane installed in Calle Postigo de los Abades lifted the first of the wooden structures that will make up the gable roof, designed by architects Juan Manuel Sánchez La Chica and Adolfo de la Torre Prieto.
The new roof will put an end to the problem of leaks that the church suffers from and which once again led to puddles inside the building during the heavy rains of last Wednesday.
The construction of the new roof, designed by the Cathedral Chapter according to the plans drawn up by the architect Ventura Rodríguez in 1764, has now begun. The wooden structures, more than 15 metres long, are made of wood from forests in the Basque Country by the Egoin Wood Group, a company based in Vizcaya. This is a firm specialising in the manufacture of this type of large-format, made-to-measure wooden pieces for buildings.
For Malaga Cathedral's roof, which occupies a surface area of 3,600 square metres, Egoin is using some 1,400 cubic metres of radiata pine wood, a material that offers greater resistance in the event of fire. Wednesday's lifting operation, with a 65-metre-high crane, is the first of many more to follow in the coming weeks and months until the structure of the new roof is complete.
Until now, the construction companies Hermanos Campano and Grupo ORP have carried out the removal of the 'brick skin' that was applied to the exterior of the vaults in 2008 as a result of an initiative of the Junta de Andalucía which did not give the expected result, as the monument has continued to suffer from leaks.
The layers of bricks that were applied at that time have been removed and the lead sheets that were placed as the first base of that intervention to protect the building in the event of rainfall have been left in place. Once the structure and the deck of the new roof guarantee that the rains will not cause deterioration in the area below, these lead sheets will be removed and the vertical enclosures, cladding and roof finishes will be undertaken.
The change of wood for the beams, which were initially going to be made of Douglas fir, as well as other modifications introduced in the roof project such as the completion of the front of the main façade of the Cathedral, have increased the cost by 4.8 million euros, bringing the total budget to 22.5 million euros.
So far, the diocese has raised 5.3 million euros for this unique project from the Junta de Andalucía; 4.5 million from Malaga city hall; 3.2 million from the provincial body, the Diputación de Málaga and 1.5 million from the Fundación Bancaria Unicaja, making a total of 14.5 million.
The Cathedral Chapter is to continue knocking on the door of companies to collaborate in a project which, for the moment, the central government has not wanted to join. The government has insisted that the only way for it to collaborate is for the project to be eligible for the 'two per cent cultural funding, but it does not meet the conditions to do so. Nevertheless, the website www.yoconmicatedral.es and Bizum number 06397 remain open to raise funds from those who wish to donate .
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Publicidad
Reporta un error en esta noticia
Necesitas ser suscriptor para poder votar.