"Workers renovating the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos a 15thcentury pilgrim hospital turned parador installed copper pipes straight through its Renaissance gargoyles, leaving the sculptures visibly impaled. The images have shocked locals and specialists alike, forcing authorities into damagecontrol mode. The public fury was instant. On Gargopedia the online platform created by art historian Dolores Herrero, Spain's leading specialist in gargoyles and chimeras one follower summed up the mood bluntly: When a brain can't take any more, aberrations like this happen."
"Much of the anger focused on one image that quickly dominated local media: a waterspout in the shape of a naked man who, until a few months ago (and since the 16th century), crouched with his genitals exposed while rainwater flowed out through his anus. It was a symbolic, playful gesture by a Renaissance stonemason but now, as people describe it, he has been impaled, colonoscopied, sodomized by a long copper pipe installed during the multimillioneuro restoration of the parador led by Spain's Institute of Tourism."
"To the left of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, the gargoyles which once spewed freely and are now encased in tubing supposedly meant to protect the Baroque balconies below, despite having poured over them for centuries were fully revealed only after Easter Week. Sixteen gargoyles are affected eight on each balcony. These are whimsically carved stone spouts: monsters, animals, and human"
Workers renovating Hostal dos Reis Catolicos in Santiago de Compostela installed copper pipes straight through Renaissance gargoyles. The sculptures became visibly impaled, shocking locals and specialists and prompting authorities to respond. Public anger spread quickly, with demands for accountability and calls to identify who approved the intervention. One prominent figure, a waterspout shaped like a naked man with exposed genitals, was described as having been pierced by a long copper pipe. Gargoyles that once spewed water were later encased in tubing, with sixteen gargoyles affected across two balconies. The changes were revealed after Easter Week, and the restoration was linked to a multimillion-euro project led by Spain’s tourism institute.
Read at english.elpais.com
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