The conference Tra arte, artigianato e solidarietà: lo stato di avanzamento dei lavori di restauro dei lampadari del Comune di Sant’Agostino sopravvissuti al terremoto” focused on the restoration process made on the chandeliers survived to the earthquake of Sant’Agostino (Emilia Romagna) has been held at the newly restored Chamber of Commerce in Venice.
The project Una Luce per l’Emilia Romagna is developed by Consorzio Promovetro, managing authority for the Vetro Artistico® Murano trademark.
Among the various and deep presences, the most memorable one was probably the one delivered by the Mayor of Sant’Agostino Fabrizio Toselli, with many images of the those terrible days.
In just 6 months the city council has been able to build a new school and many families will be able to go back to their new houses, before next Easter.
The new town hall, which will be restored by 2015, will eventually host the chandeliers, after the restoration works will be concluded and they will have been exposed at the Murano glass Museum.
The presence of the Head of Fire Brigade of Ferrara, Cristiano Causin, showed with images the delicate steps of the recovery of the chandeliers, done together with the Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali of Ferrara, and Consorzio Promovetro.
A group of representatives from the Soprintendenza dei Beni Culturali of Ferrara, headed by Dr. Elena Rossoni, showed the vast works of restoration done on more than 1400 saved artworks. In these days the first works of art are now going back to their original places.
The chandeliers have been now fully catalogued and the glass masters are now recreating the missing parts and recovering the broken ones. A quarter of the chandeliers is estimated to be restored.
The conference has been also the occasion to present a first version of the documentary realised for the event, with images about the moment of the earthquake, the saving of the chandeliers and the restoration of them, done through the re-discovery of some ancient glass working processes.
There are also some curiosities about these chandeliers, one of them deals with the discovery of some pieces of newspapers probably dated 6th of May 1932, used to help holding a lamp.