The Cathedral Of Salamanca Goes To Japan

Justino Sanchón

Anyone who has travelled abroad knows what it is to be attracted by the artistic manifestations one comes across. And on returning home one hopes to go back someday to see them again. To a group of Japanese something similar happened in Salamanca. The only difference was they liked something so much they did not resign themselves to having to return to see it again. Quite simply, they decided to have a replica made and to take it back home.

It all began in 1993 when the Government of Gifu in Japan contacted the Salamanca City Hall for the purpose of "exporting” to Japan the replicas of the door of the University and of the New Cathedral, the latter known as the Ramos Gateway. And all this happened because years before (in 1989), in a visit of the Emperors of Japan to Spain they took back to their country a replica of the organ of this Cathedral. The organ was installed in the auditorium of music of Gifu (a Japanese city of 410,000 people and situated 350 kilometres from Tokyo). Later on, and after a referendum among the city people, this auditorium came to be denominated as "Salamanca Hall” as a mark of gratitude for the replica of the organ. In this auditorium one more element was missing to link Gifu with Salamanca. In 1993 the Government of the Japanese city requested the Salamanca City Hall to find a company willing to make a replica of the doors of the Cathedral- this twice - and of the University. These would become the doors of the entrance and exit of the auditorium.

 

It was then that the Salamanca City Hall commissioned the company "Sanchón Diego,S.L.", dedicated to extraction and special jobs in the Villamayor stone (a sandstone), under the direction of the brothers Justino and Ignacio Sanchón Diego, the work of elaborating the replicas. This company, at the same time, contacted the architect in Salamanca, Francisco García, for the realisation of the project. There was, however, a problem. Apart from the measurements, which were not of exact proportion, was added a wish of the Government of Gifu: given the fact the project would be paid for out of public funds, in order to respect the religious sentiments of its citizens, the majority being Buddhists and Sintoists, all those symbols related to the history of Spain and to Christianity in the two facades, would need to be eliminated. Things being such, the saints with bibles were substituted with musicians holding instruments : tambourine, harp, ... Even the figure of the Birth of Child Jesus, which can be observed in the doorway of the New Cathedral, was substituted for a tavern of fruits and that of Adoration became a jug of water. In the facade of the University, the coat of arms of the Catholic Kings was substituted by that of the rising sun and the coat of arms of Spanish kings by that of pictures of ships and animals related to Japanese culture.

The work began in 1994 and lasted three years. They concluded in March, 1997. During this time the stones were installed as if it were a facade and, later on, the replicas started to be sculpted. Eight sculptors were needed for its realisation, the majority being young people between the age of 32 and 35 years, and another five quarriers were responsible for the extraction and elaboration of the stones. The measurements of the three replicas were : that of the University, eight by five metres, which is about thirty eight percent of the original size; and that of the Cathedral, six by four metres, which is thirty four percent of the original size. In total, therefore, about 50,000 kilograms of stone were moved and it took about 90,000 hours of work in the realisation of the three facades.

The transport became one of the main problems of the job, since a company specialised in stone packaging was put in charge and the stones had to be dismounted from the facade. They were put together one by one, packaged and put in boxes. From Villamayor in Salamanca they were taken by truck to Valencia. And from there to Tokyo by ship. A trip that lasted several months. If the work was completed in March, "97 , it was in October of that year that the transport of 58 boxes was done. On 28 October, 1998 the auditorium "Salamanca Hall" was inaugurated with the three replicas of the facade of the University and the New Cathedral of Salamanca.