The medieval murals of the monumental Magnus Church in Anloo are being freed from a layer of black deposits. The province of Drenthe will pay for the restoration of the centuries-old wall decorations.
The murals from the 13th and 15th centuries were damaged by years of moisture accumulation in the church walls. Salt and dirt from the masonry ended up on the paintings in the form of a black deposit. This affects the paint on the decorations. The culprit was a leaky roof, which made it too humid in the church.
The restoration of the 750-year-old decorations costs almost 50,000 euros and the managers of the church building have spent almost two years raising that money. Now the province of Drenthe is putting the entire amount on the table at once.
“We are very happy with it,” says Hendrik Jan Bakhuizen. He is secretary of the board of church stewards of PKN Anloo-Zuidlaren, which is responsible for the maintenance of the church. “We had hoped for at least fifty percent of the costs, but the fact that we are now getting everything is really great news.”
See below how seriously the murals of the Magnus Church have been affected by the black deposit