Photo Caption: Final inspection before finishing the restoration of Sacred Heart of Jesus statue
– Benedict Keith Ip
After more than eight decades since 1930, two important statues in the Cathedral – Our Lady of Fatima on the right and Sacred Heart of Jesus on the left (facing the altar) – have already been restored. Both of them will be back on the altars before the Feast day of Cathedral on the 8th of September (Saturday).
The inscriptions on the statues reveal the origin of the statues: that they were made in Santo Tirso (Porto). After José Ferreira Coronado completed the job in 1930, they become two valuable pieces of art but they have reached point where they need urgent restorations. Paintings, cracks and damages have been appearing through the decades.
The major restoration took place from 4th July to 7th September and was carried out by the restoration team from “Art House” which is based in Macau. Sharna Lam Seng, on-site restoration office person-in-charge, told O Clarim that one of the main challenges are the balance of quality of restoration work and time devoted to them. “We practically need to finish one statue in a month in order to catch up the schedule of the liturgies, namely, Our Lady of Assumption on the 15th of August and the Feast day of Cathedral in the coming Saturday (on the 8th of September)”. Because of the damages, different parts are treated with different reversible methods, such as a fair use of calcium carbonate, reversible color coating and protection mechanism.
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