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Girona City History Museum joins in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Centre for the Restoration of Moveable Cultural Property of Catalonia

On 18 May 2012, the City History Museum will present the history of the original Angel of Girona Cathedral, restored by the CRBMC in 1997 and currently displayed in our Modern Girona room.

During the first semester of 2012, several Catalan museums will host a series of activities designed to create awareness of works restored by the Centre for the Restoration of Moveable Cultural Property of Catalonia. The City History Museum has selected the Angel of Girona Cathedral, fashioned in copper and wrought iron by tinsmith Ramon Salvatella, in or around the year 1764. The piece was gilded in the heyday of the well-known Girona gilders Antoni Soler Colobran and Ambrós Colobran, and the iron support was made by cutler Narcís Calmellas. The original angel was perched at the top of the cathedral bell tower, where it also served as a weather vane. In 1968, it was replaced by the present-day angel, sculpted by Ramon Maria Carrera. The accidental decapitation of the original angel may have been caused by a bolt of lightning, or by the impact of a bomb during the Peninsular War. It was restored by the CRBMC in 1997.
The creation of the Centre for the Restoration of Moveable Cultural Property of Catalonia in 1981 placed Catalonia in the vanguard of Spain. Over the last 30 years, the CRBMC has retrieved the most significant artistic, archaeological, and ethnological items of our cultural legacy, has promoted research and innovation, and has restored over twenty works of art from all over Catalonia, now displayed in museums, churches, monasteries, and other public institutions.