The Romanesque of the 12th century of, has suffered this Sunday the collapse of the wall of the northern cloth. The Diocese Abulense has reported that the collapse occurred around six in the morning and that no personal damage had to regret. The temple, considered according to the ecclesiastical statement as “Jewel of the Castilian Romanesque”, was declared World Heritage in 1985. The first investigations point to the “moisture that flows from the roof to the ground” as responsible for the loss of about “80 or 90 square meters” of material, without ruling out that the damage continues to be expanded. The event caused the cult of the church to be canceled at the expense of resolving what happened. The first actions will consist of “underpinning the cover from the inside to be stable and that there is no danger that the cover can fall”, in addition to evaluating whether there is a danger that more parts of this medieval construction can fall. Culture area spokespersons point out that “there are heritage technicians of the Board who are evaluating the collapse of the northern cloth of San Andrés in Ávila, whose owner is the diocese of Ávila.”
The Parish of San Vicente has been reviewed by the parish priest of San Vicente, Fernando Gutiérrez, the architect of the Diocese of Ávila, Luis Carlos García, the mayor of Ávila, José Manuel Sánchez (by Ávila), the municipal archaeologist, the local police and a fire team, who have conducted the largest study of the property in search of more failures. The diocese has valued that “fortunately the collapse has occurred in an area without pedestrian traffic” and have been desired of deterioration about this “jewel of the Castilian Romanesque” because “it affects one of our oldest temples and, beyond its artistic value, an important asset for the life of faith of the parish of San Vicente.” Thus, the cult is canceled within the Church until they make sure its stability. The architect has calculated about 80 or 90 square meters of damage and believes that once this northern cloth has been given, it follows because it has been “remarkably bulging.”
The first explanations point to “the moisture that flows from the ground to the ceiling, and that has been washing over time the filling of the walls.” These centenary walls were built in the past without completing their thickness, but the consistency filling was applied without so much emphasis “with mortar and with the poorest filling to unite the entire wall.” In this way, the Church “instead of having a complete thick wall, what it has is an outer leaf of smaller dimension”, so when you receive the load to endure, the wall opens out and has defeated. The architect Luis Carlos García has pointed out the probability that this wall has experienced past reconstructions “because in the upper courses there are cement mortar that was not used in the past” and has not perceived “ripias of union between the walls so that in the event that the consolidation of the mortar is lost in different strips the wall.”
The religious congregation of Ávila has reported that once the celebration of rites in the temple has been prevented to guarantee the safety of the faithful, they will seek to underpin the roof from the inside so that it does not collapse. Next, the technicians will evaluate the possible causes of the heritage damage to detect if there are more sectors of the wall that can end the same and if this collapse has generated structural or stability incidents in the rest of the set. The next step will be to strengthen the walls and remove the stones that have fallen to begin the reconstruction of the valuable building of the twelfth century. The Diocese has requested “patience” to the Abulenses because “we will take time to see San Andrés recovered”, since administrative and patrimonial procedures must be initiated as it is a singular building.
