Apart from the electoral advance and the pre-campaign of 12-M, the Sant Jordi hall in the Palau de la Generalitat is immersed in a crowd that is very different from that experienced in the neighboring offices. There are no politicians here, but a team of restorers wearing helmets, gloves and reflective vests, who climb the scaffolding every day with a mission: to rescue the Renaissance essence of this noble room, once the gigantic murals of the time of Primo de Rivera. The works, which began in May 2023, are entering the last phase, at a good pace, and the transformation is radical.
Once the murals were removed, the white stucco on the walls and a unique and minimalist decoration on the arches were exposed, which returned the hall to an appearance very similar to what it must have had at the beginning of the 17th century, when the architect Pere Blai finished its construction and it was a sober and diaphanous chapel, with natural light entering the dome.
The original decoration is preserved in quite good condition and has a high heritage value, since it is of a unique pictorial style, exceptional in Catalonia: the grotesque, which was practiced by Italian Renaissance artists, inspired by the decorations of the caves of ancient Rome. Pere Blai had this influence.
"They are paintings that combine plant motifs with fantastic figures. The Domus Aurea was decorated like this, and the Renaissance recovered this technique for decorations of the time and of a Christian orientation", explains restorer Rudi Ranesi, coordinator of the team in charge of the painting, during the work mural and stone.
The good condition of the grotesque arches and the stucco of the walls and vaults was the first of the surprises that this trip to the past of the Sant Jordi hall has brought. The initial project, with a budget of 1.9 million euros, included the removal of the dictatorship's murals – 24 large canvases on the walls, 45 smaller ones on the vaults and a jigsaw puzzle in the dome–, and the subsequent provisional adaptation of these surfaces with a light colored felt to give it an appearance similar to the original. But last December the plan changed.
"From previous studies we knew that under the murals of 1926 there were remnants of Renaissance decoration, but we did not imagine that so much and in such good condition, something that could only be appreciated when the scaffolding was put up a year ago and they to be able to make new coves, which were very hopeful", points out architect Júlia Roca, head of Palau's Heritage.
"Faced with the discovery of these signs, at the return of the summer the project was paralyzed and the heritage experts came. They all agreed that we had a hidden gem", says Josep Girabal, Deputy Director General of Works and Services of the Department of the Presidency. The project was changed, in agreement with the company Urcotext, heritage expert and winner of the public tender. The felt option was rejected and the team of restorers was expanded.
"In the painting of the arches, the quality of the color and adhesion to the stone is good, but the most surprising thing has been the quantity found - details the director of the Furniture Restoration Center, Mireia Mestre-. The arches of the central nave are practically complete and we have recovered the ring of grisaille from the base of the dome, which we didn't even know was there."
On the walls and vaults, the white stuccos, with 400 years behind them, were in good condition, despite the fact that the hall has had several uses during this time, and was even a house. It has required a thorough intervention, cleaning and restoration, but no new stucco has been put on. "We don't pretend to go back to the 1600s. What we have is an aged renaissance", explains Ranesi. "Nor do we paint on top of the grotesque, although in some cases to improve the reading from below we complete the drawing with the technique of tratteggio (parallel stripes) and watercolors that could be removed with a sponge". add.
Another surprise was to find on four walls the incisions made by the painter Joaquín Torres-García as a guide for the frescoes he painted at the beginning of the 20th century on behalf of the Commonwealth and which are kept in another room.
And a great find was also hidden, in this case behind a wall that covered four windows on the facade facing Plaça Sant Jaume. "When the brick wall was removed we discovered eight polychrome stained glass windows from 1880, magnificent and very well preserved," says Girabal. Once the carpentry of the windows has been restored, they will be installed again.
With the white walls and the light coming in through the windows, the change in the Sant Jordi lounge will be so radical that it will not leave anyone indifferent. It will be seen soon. Everything should be ready in August. The date of the inauguration was already set two years ago: September 11, whoever the president is then.
