He Barcelona’s town hall start this tuesday cleaning of the polemics painted in the Basilica del Pi. As this newspaper reported this April, they had been waiting for more than a year. The Gothic Quarter temple received a mark on the façade and another, much larger and problematic, on a high wall that is difficult to access where a 14th century shield. The appearance of these graffiti and others recently erased from Santa Maria del Mar revived the debate on the impact of vandal graffiti on historical heritage.
The cleaning tasks will require at least 4 working days on site, municipal sources advance to El Periódico. The brigade workers have fenced off the area and set up an elevator early in the morning, and around noon they began the first interventions on the stone. As it is a building classified as a Cultural Asset of National Interest –the highest category–, the Generalitat’s Heritage Commission has had to authorize the methodology and products used to remove the paint without damaging the façade or the shield.
The chosen system is very low pressure sandblastingbecause the Pi church is made of Montjuic stone, a characteristic material of Barcelona but very porous. The paint easily penetrates the stone and is very difficult to remove without deteriorating valuable layers below the surface, such as the polychromy that is believed to be hidden on this shield.
For all these reasons, archeology and restoration technicians have visited the basilica in recent months to assess the graffiti in situ. Although it is expected to be expensive, the council still does not know exactly what it will cost to clean these graffiti. It will depend on how many days the specialists have to work on it and the products used, among other factors.
a year of waiting
As El Periódico explained, this rehabilitation has taken more than a year to arrive despite the fact that those responsible for the parish quickly reported the damage to the Mossos d’Esquadra. Municipal sources refer to the long evaluation and authorization procedure, although they allege that the consistory and the Generalitat established “an action protocol to expedite & rdquor; these procedures. “We regret that the graffiti that damages a heritage building classified as a cultural asset of national interest has not yet been removed,” the archbishopric of Barcelona declared to this newspaper three weeks ago.
New contract
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The Barcelona government trusts in the future special contract for the cleaning of graffiti, which will cover the next two years (2024-2026) and will expand this brigade with 30% more workers. It will include buildings with patrimonial value that have been vandalized, even if they are not public, consolidating the exceptions that the council has to carry out today for uncivil acts against monuments. The current cleaning of the Pi is paid for with the Pla Cuidem Barcelonaan appendix to the new cleaning contract designed to deal with black spots and unforeseen events.
In parallel, Barcelona is trying to discourage graffiti artists with more police pressure. The complaints against authors of graffiti and graffiti have increased significantly. According to the data provided by the Urban Police to this newspaper, in 2021 there were a total of 281 complaints, while last year they rose to 328, which implies an increase of 16.7%. However, most of the time they are not caught red-handed and, therefore, they are not punished. The expected fines range between 300 and 500 euros.