Portal de Caravaca de la Cruz
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At the beginning of next year, the City of Caravaca and the Brotherhood of Vera Cruz will publish a book with the transcription and historical studies made by a multidisciplinary team
Among the events organized for the festivity of San Juan de la Cruz, the Carmelite convent hosted the presentation of the 'Book of State' or 'Book Calf' of the Convent of the Discalced Carmelite Caravaca, which has been restored and digitized in the workshop of the General Archive of the Region, through the project of conservation of the documentary heritage 'Crimson', of the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment.
The City Council of Caravaca de la Cruz and the Brotherhood of Vera Cruz will publish at the beginning of next year a book with the transcript of the State Book of the Convent of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers, which will be accompanied by several historical studies, in which it is found working a multidisciplinary team.
The passing of the centuries and constant use notably deteriorated the 'Book Calf' of the convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Caravaca de la Cruz, so that a careful restoration has been made in the workshop of the General Archive of the Region using the most modern available techniques
Since the foundation of the building, in 1587, by San Juan de la Cruz, the text contains the properties and belongings of the convent, its assets and rights, as well as the burials and biographical sketches of the friars and brothers who lived there.
It also includes avatars, happy and unfortunate, suffered by the institution.
The most abundant documents are dated in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, but also contains many others from the twentieth and even the twenty-first century.
In a certain way, the 'State Book' is a daily management book and even an accounting book, but with the exhaustive data that it contains, it is also a documentary treasure that allows to investigate historical aspects of all kinds, making known the daily, domestic, of the convent life of the time.
Also, it is known with the term 'Book Calf' because it was used to designate the books bound in the skin of this animal given its importance, since it was considered that they were better preserved.
The restored original book has a total of 387 pages.
Coinciding with the presentation of its restoration and digitalization, 300 copies of a facsimile edition (of 126 pages) have been made, which have been donated mostly to the convent, although there will be books available for consultation by any citizen interested in the General Archive, the Regional Library and other municipal libraries, thus facilitating the knowledge of our heritage and our own history and making it available to the whole society.
Restoration process
The passing of the centuries and constant use notably deteriorated the 'Book Calf' of the convent of the Discalced Carmelites of Caravaca de la Cruz, which led to a careful restoration in the workshop of the General Archive of the Region using the most modern available techniques
The intervention has been a partial restoration, since the deteriorations were concentrated in the first and last leaves and in the binding, the latter being the one that presented the most damage.
The first step was to unbind it in order to treat each structure independently.
The most deteriorated leaves were dismembered to mechanically reintegrate all the lost areas thereof and, on the other hand, the skin covering said covers was treated.
Afterwards, the heads and the lost nerves were reconstructed, the intervened leaves were sewn (always respecting the original structure) and, finally, the new covers were joined with the restored skin to the body of the book.
To improve the subsequent conservation of the manuscript, a custom-made conservation box has also been made.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Caravaca de la Cruz
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