Restoration advances on James the Less pinnacle

The work on the Passion façade was built by architects Isidre Puig Boada and Lluís Bonet Garí, direct disciples of Gaudí; the foundations were laid in 1954 and the four bell lowers finished in 1977. Although the construction isn’t so old, something had to be done to prevent the mosaic tiles from falling off. So, in 2005, urgent, immediate measures were taken to protect the four towers with netting. Then, as the laboratory analyses and studies were taking longer than expected, the original red netting was replaced with more transparent kind so it wouldn’t block these bell towers.

After discovering the best way to make sure the mortar would adhere to the Venetian glass, work began to put the mosaic back on in 2014. The works began with the pinnacle of the southern central tower, dedicated to Saint Thomas, then moved on to Bartholomew, the other one in the centre, and after that, Philip, the last one on the end closest to the sea. Work has now started on James the Less, the one on the end closest to the mountains. So, it is the last pinnacle left to be restored of the four on the Passion façade after the others had undergone similar works.

This project began in September with the scaffolding and, like the other towers, aims to preserve and respect the original work. To this end, numerous photos were taken before starting to document the exact original design in terms of colour, size and position of the pieces. The work on the first bell towers, the highest ones in the centre, took more than one year each. In this case, however, thanks to the experience gained with the other towers, the work should be complete before the end of next year.

You can see the current progress of the works on this terminal in this 360^o photo.