The Madrid City Council opens the scaffolding of the Cibeles Fountain to the public with 176 free guided tours between July and September. Registrations begin this Thursday at 10 AM.
Madrid residents and tourists will be able to climb this summer to the scaffolding surrounding the Cibeles Fountain to closely observe the restoration work on the monument. The Madrid City Council has launched a new edition of the 'Open for Restoration' programme, which will offer 176 free guided tours with a total of 2,640 spots.
Registrations will open this Thursday at 10 AM on the website set up for bookings. The first tours will start this very weekend, although there will be a pause during the month of August. In September, when the work is more advanced, the visits will resume.
The Deputy Mayor of Madrid, Inma Sanz, presented the start of the intervention on Wednesday, accompanied by the Delegate for Culture, Tourism and Sport, Marta Rivera de la Cruz; the Councillor for the Centre, Carlos Segura, and the General Director of Cultural Heritage, Elena Hernando. Sanz highlighted that Cibeles is "one of the most well-known monuments" in the city and recalled its recent prominence during the celebrations of the World Cup final.
Groups will consist of 15 visitors, guided by an expert and an assistant. The tour will last about 50 minutes, and attendees will access via a walkway that will allow them to observe closely the figure of the goddess, the chariot, and the lions Hipómenes and Atalanta.
The restoration, with a budget close to 260,000 euros, will last for five months. The project is in collaboration with L'Oréal Groupe España, which also participated in the restoration of the Fountain of Neptune.
The Delegate for Culture, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, explained that this is a preventive action. "We are giving the great monuments of Madrid a sort of check-up to intervene before it becomes absolutely necessary," she noted. Rivera de la Cruz emphasised the uniqueness of being able to approach a fountain that is normally viewed from a vehicle or from the sidewalks of the square: "We are going to see up close sculptural groups that are much more beautiful than they appear from afar."
The Cibeles Fountain shows the typical alterations of a monument permanently exposed to traffic, pollution, weather conditions, biological agents, and the continuous action of water. However, the damage is not severe. Among the main problems detected is a millimetric deviation of the structure, which will be corrected during the intervention. "The rest are absolutely minor damages, but the technicians told us that waiting another ten years would have left the monument in a much less satisfactory state," added Rivera de la Cruz.
The General Director of Cultural Heritage, Elena Hernando, detailed that the problems are due to three factors: the changes in location suffered by the fountain, the variety of materials used in its construction, and the treatments carried out in the past. The fountain was completed in 1781 and was moved from its original location to the centre of the square at the end of the 19th century, an operation that altered the behaviour of the structure and is related to some fissures that are currently being monitored.
The intervention will include the removal of layers of dirt and biological contamination, the review of joints, and the removal of lime mortars used in previous interventions that are now considered inadequate. A small crack linked to the historical relocation will also be treated, and action will be taken on the support to prevent movements from increasing. "It is a small crack, but it requires us to always be attentive to its evolution," noted Hernando.
One of the innovations will be the installation of sensors that will allow daily monitoring of the behaviour and condition of the fountain. This system will be combined with the regular maintenance carried out by the municipal company responsible for the conservation of monuments. The techniques will be similar to those used in the Fountain of Neptune, which shares some of its materials with Cibeles. Hernando emphasised that the cleaning will be done "without ever touching the original stone."
The Cibeles Fountain was designed by Ventura Rodríguez in 1777 as part of the project to organise the Salón del Prado initiated during the reign of Carlos III. The figure of the goddess was sculpted by Francisco Gutiérrez Arribas, while the lions were created by Roberto Michel. Now, Madrid residents will have the opportunity to see this city icon up close and learn about the secrets of its restoration.
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