Under the slogan Apuntat! Recuperem el nostre patrimoni (‘Sign on! Let’s recover our heritage!’), the administrators of the Mare de Deu del Vinyet Sanctuary have organised a drive for funds to restore the murals inside the dome of the Sanctuary, which are the work of Sitges painter Agustí Ferrer Pino and date from 1919.
During the festivities for Sant Jordi, they gave away bookmarks of the Sanctuary carrying full information on the fundraising drive, in which the choirboys of Vinyet play a major role, all with the aim of being able to afford to restore this wonderful decoration, which needs work after 105 years in order to recover its true splendour.
The work to be done will be the second stage of a restoration that began with the removal of the wooden vault partially blocking out the paintings. That first stage was presented to the public at the Ofici de Sant Esteve in the Vinyet sanctuary. At the same time they presented the new lighting on the mural depicting the Ecce Homo, a scene restored 50 years ago by another Sitges artist, Artur Duch. In addition, outside the hermitage itself, they restored the 18 stages of the Passion, a piece donated in 1997 by Rosa Plà. That work was all paid for by the administration of the Vinyet.
But they do not want to stop here, and are actively pursuing sources of funds to cover the cost of further improvements to the Sanctuary and the preservation of its artistic heritage. For this reason, they stress that ‘the sanctuary is the property of the Town Hall and the Parish merely manages the religious aspect’. They say that ‘this restoration involves works belonging to all Sitges residents, which means they are part of the artistic heritage of all the citizens and so we ask for the collaboration of all’.
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