Church of Sant Climent de Llobregat
In 2018, the Barcelona Provincial Council (Diputació de Barcelona) commissioned us to draft the Master Plan for the Restoration of the Parish Church of Sant Climent de Llobregat. The primary goal was the restoration of the presbytery’s mural paintings, executed by the painter Joan Torres Vives (1929–2021). However, a more comprehensive assessment of the complex revealed structural pathologies in the roof, bell tower, flooring, and general facades, which necessitated a comprehensive preliminary study of the entire monument to prioritize intervention phases and resources.
Our analysis of the mural paintings revealed they were vinyl-based paints superimposed over older, oil-based layers. Environmental conditions, combined with chemical and physical incompatibility between these strata, had caused flaking, blistering, and extensive craquelure of the pictorial layer that required urgent treatment. Once environmental hygrometric monitoring was established, the roof repaired, and the flooring and perimeter baseboards replaced to mitigate capillary rise, the physical restoration of the mural was undertaken by Veta Restauració. The intervention involved surface cleaning, the consolidation and re-adhesion of the paint layers, and the final reintegration of losses (llacunes) using water-based tratteggio techniques. The project successfully concluded with its official inauguration in 2025.
