The ingenuity converted into the magical heart of the Botafumeiro of the Cathedral of Santiago has been restored thanks to a group of heroes and heroines who allow it to reach 400 years of continuous operation, but do it in a way that is more faithful to its origin and also in the safest way. This is clear from the documentary that the Compostela temple broadcasts from its YouTube channel about said restoration effort.
The process of recovering this heritage is detailed through work carried out in 2024, restoring the mechanism that allows the Botafumeiro to function, valuable censer that weighs 53 kilos, measures one and a half meters high and whose flight sometimes reaches a maximum speed of 68 kilometers per hour, a famous image throughout the world.
This project was carried out over several months, with the intervention of professionals and experts. Javier Alonso, architect; Jesús Puente, mechanic; Rubén González, carpenter; Pablo Fraga, metal carpenter; Mercedes Cortazar, restaurateur; José González Piñeiro, industrial engineer; Manuel García, tiraboleiro and José Antonio Puente, historian, star, in that order, in the audiovisual story of this improvement in a key piece of Galician cultural heritage, if not universal, if we consider that, in 2024 alone, nearly half a million people achieved the compostela which is given to those who walk the Camino, sealing that accreditation at each step
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All this work is based on a design of Juan Bautista Celma, Aragonese sculptor and painter born around 1540 and died in Santiago in 1608, creator of the current design of the Botafumeiro, dated 1602. Javier Alonso, architect, points out that the botafumeiro was already "partially restored in 2020 and, in 2024, after the fall of a screw, it was reviewed and completely restored."
Jesús Puente, mechanic, reports in said documentary that "when completely disassembling" the renewed mechanism "everything was restored when several deteriorations were noted." And Rubén González, carpenter, adds: "we double the interior reinforcements", in allusion to the walnut and chestnut drums that make up that mechanism/soul of the precious piece of the Compostela temple, all of this "to return damaged or altered elements to their original conformation and appearance where possible, and introduce new elements essential to ensure their resistance and stability» .
FOUNTAIN: EPE
