Ana Laborde, architect of the recovery of the Pórtico de la Gloria, won the National Restoration Award

2024-10-02 12:54:29

Without the knowledge and work of Ana Laborde (San Sebastián, 1958), the Pórtico de la Gloria would not shine today in its grandeur, nor would the Puerta de Alcalá have survived the attacks of time and weather, which have opened cracks in soak. those games and its granite. The experience of this conservator-restorer of the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE) has been key in the interventions in these and many other Spanish cultural heritages and for this reason it has been awarded National Award for Restoration and Conservation of Cultural Heritage 2024given 30,000 euros.

The judges, unanimously, recognized his “extraordinary contribution to the preservation and restoration of cultural heritage, his Innovative methods in the treatment of stone materialsits commitment to industrial cooperation through its work with national and international organizations and the dissemination of knowledge through several important publications and training activities.

Inside”exceptional child» by Laborde, the jury evaluated his works on «heritage properties of the highest level of protection and recognition as World Heritage», with «rigorous restoration techniques» and even presented the technical direction of the intervention in the Pórtico de la Gloria in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela and, this past year, the technical advice in the restoration of the Puerta de Alcalá de Madrid .

International reference

This specialist’s work in the preservation of stone objects has won national and international awards and has made him “the Spanish representation in the most famous international companies in the matter of natural culture, such as the Council of Europe and ICCROM, being reference in the field of restoration and, especially, historical architecture», according to the jury.

Studied in Geography and History, specializing in Prehistory and Archaeology, from the Faculty of Science and Letters of the Autonomous University of Madrid (1978), Ana Laborde graduated from the School of Conservation and The Restoration of the Cultural Heritage of Madrid, specializing in Archeology (1978). 1981).

A pioneer in integrating returnees into the field By promoting his integration into research groups, he joined the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain in 1996, after some professional beginnings in the fields of Atapuerca. Since then and until his recent retirement, he has combined contributions both in the field of archeology and in that of rock art and heritage.

“Restoration is like archeology, a great piece of research. The most complicated thing is deciding on the necessary equipment and launching all the necessary investigations,” he said in an interview with this newspaper a few years ago, during the restoration of the Portico of Glory. “Polychromy is lost; In a few years we will be left with nothing,” he explained at the end of this contribution that brought color back to the work of Maestro Mateo.

Due to the relevance of the work and the technical difficulty involved in its recovery with the professional team, this project marks an important milestone in a work in which he has contributed to monuments such as the monasteries of Santo Domingo de Silos and Santa María La Real de. Nájera or the cathedrals of Palma de Mallorca, Burgos, Sigüenza, Tudela, Toledo or Barcelona. He has also restored paintings such as Our Lady of the White Virgin of Vitoria or those in the garden of the Sorolla Museum and has provided advice, such as the last one for the restoration of the Puerta de Alcalá in Madrid.