28/01/2011
Vitoria- Gasteiz, 28th January 2010.- For celebrating the 150th anniversary of the diocese of Vitoria- Gasteiz, this year a big black marble vault will be constructed in the central nave where the altar will be situated, and it will be one of the main attractions of Santa Maria Cathedral in 2012. The installation of the floor in the transept and the presbytery, and also a guided itinerary through the subsoil of the cathedral, will permit to combine the cultural and liturgical activity.
The most important restoration work at the moment is the project of the crypt and the frameworks of the transept, that will prepare the cathedral for the reopening of the temple next year. This project has been drawn up by the technical department of Santa Maria Cathedral Foundation directed by Juan Ignacio Lasagabaster with a budget of 1,75 million euros and awarded to Artemon Monumental Architecture Techniques. This restoration work will be finished the next autumn.
Ground floor of the Cathedral
A new planked oak wooden floor will be installed, and it will have a special treatment in the transept and the presbytery where the altar will be situated. A black stonework black marble vault will be placed, such an structure hasn´t been built since XIXth century. It will have a latin cross plan elevated 60 centimeters from the ground floor of the cathedral for placing of the altar, the ambon e.t.c.
History of the city
The archaeological investigations done during the years 2000 and 2009 inside and outside the cathedral by the Heritage Investigation Group of the Basque University directed by Agustin Azcarate, have showed a sequence of constructions that explains the history of the city from the Middle Ages until the construction of the Cathedral. With the excavations it have been also recovered a space that it was totally submerged until now. It will be possible to built in this space ten exposition halls that will be communicated through different footbridges , stairs and two elevators. The biggest exposition space will be an opened hall in the nave of the transept. It will be possible to access to this space from Cuchillería Street and also from Canton de Santa María.
After finishing this restoration works, a new guided itinerary will be possible begining from the archaeological excavations and finishing in the bell tower, that will visit the naves of the cathedral, the portico and the interior floors of the tower. All this spaces will be accesible for disabled persons.
The virtual images with the final result ara available in our web- site: www.catedralvitoria.com/boveda.zip