04/03/2009
Vitoria-Gasteiz,
March 4, 2009 - Fundación Catedral Santa María will be
hosting workshops tomorrow and Friday to reflect on and define the
future of its bells. Experts from Alava, other autonomous communities
and even Germany will be discussing their current state, conservation
possibilities and sound quality for two days. Furthermore, the Friday
evening session will be open to the public and includes a demonstration
of bell ringing.
Six of the nine bells in Santa María Cathedral were removed last June
during restoration work on the top of the tower and have been on
display in Plaza de Santa María since then while awaiting a decision
about their future, since four of the six are cracked.
To address this, Fundación Catedral Santa María has organised these
workshops to glean the opinions of some of the most prominent national
and international experts on bells. Efforts will be made during the
two-day encounter to clear up hitherto unanswered questions about their
state of conservation.
In addition to members of Fundación Catedral
Santa María’s technical area, other expected participants are Pedro and
Alfonso Suescun, watchmakers who specialise in restoring monumental
clocks and are in charge of the Cathedral’s restoration; Francisco
Fernández de Jáuregui, member of the Alava Ethnography Seminary and
specialist in bells and bell-ringing in the Diocese of Álava; Francesc
Llop i Bayo, a doctor of social anthropology and bell-ringer in
Valencia Cathedral; Llorenç Barber, a musician whose most well-known
vocation is for conceiving bell concerts; Abel Portilla, artisan bell
caster who belongs to a long and famous line of Cantabrian bell casters
and has revived ancient casting techniques; Alberto Gil, guest
bell-ringer from Pamplona Cathedral; Andreas Gold, architect and
foreman of cathedral projects who has been working for seven years in
Erfurt, Germany; and Michael Reuter, the priest in charge of the bells
in Erfurt Cathedral.
These technical workshops will be closed to the public with the
exception of the Friday afternoon session. As of 5:00 p.m., Juan
Ignacio Lasagabaster, managing director of Fundación Catedral Santa
María, will present the conclusions drawn and offer a brief
introduction to the world of bells in the province of Álava.
Afterwards, Francisco Fernández de Jáuregui will give a presentation
entitled Apuntes sobre las campanas de Vitoria-Gasteiz y su Diócesis
[Notes on the bells in Vitoria-Gasteiz and its Diócesis], and Francesc
Llop i Bayo will speak on their sound quality in Toques de campana: el
patrimonio sonoro compartido [The toll of the bell: shared sonorous
heritage] The day will conclude at 7:00 p.m. with Sonidos de antaño
[Sounds of yesteryear], a bell-ringing demonstration by local experts,
which will take place in the Martín de Salinas hall at Palacio de Villa
Suso and be free of charge until seating capacity has been reached.
Nine bells on three
levels
There used to be nine bells on three different levels in the tower of
Santa María Cathedral. Five swinging and rolling bells known as the
Canonical bells were located on the first level (the base of the
octagonal body). On the second floor (the upper level of the octagonal
body) was the Canons’ bell, a single exclusively swinging unit. These
were the six bells that were removed in June 2008. The spire houses
three more bells called clock bells because they were only used for
telling time.
Since these bells date from after 1700, they are not considered
historic; however, since most of them were made by local bell casters
with smeltings in the vicinity of the Cathedral, just 500 metres away,
they are considered industrial heritage. Some of the parts (clock,
swinging and rolling mechanisms) also come from a now-defunct bell and
clock factory located in Vitoria.