ANTIQUES OF TELAULIM CHURCH UNDER ATTACK

PANJIM: The main altar and other wooden antiques in the 17th century St Anne's church at Telaulim (also referred to as Talaulim) were crumbling with age and mite infestation. Conservation measures have helped restore the cultural heritage reasonably to its visual beauty.

"The altars had become powdery as the church was lying neglected for 35 years, but have been treated and assembled again," says parish priest Fr Lourdino Pereira. More conservation work is being carried out to restore the artefacts in the church, he said.

"Goa has a wealth of wooden artefacts, idols, statues, altar pieces and furniture, but it is not restricted to churches and temples," Ketak Nachinolkar, a conservation architect said. Wooden treasures, be they pieces of antique furniture, chests and other assets can be found across the state, even shipwrecks, he added. But humidity caused by heavy rainfall and infestation of termites affects wooden objects, including the roofing.

Poonam Verma-Mascarenhas, a conservation architect, said deterioration of antiques due to climate calls for more efforts to upgrade conservation methods. While wooden antiques have been restored through conservation efforts in the past, a dearth of experts in the field was felt at an Indo-Italian workshop held recently at Telaulim on conservation of wooden cultural heritage, organized by Italian embassy and the Italian Culture Centre, New Delhi.

Four Italian experts, who are senior researchers from national council for research (CNR IVALSA) - Trees and Timber Institute, Italy, Claudio Pollini, Mauro Bernabei and Nicola Macchioni and Giorgio Garabelli, senior conservator, Torino, Italy, specializing in conservation of wooden cultural heritage and attending the workshop, facilitated interaction on Italian and Indian know-how. "This was in the area of conservation of wooden artefacts, starting from materials characterization till the most recent technologies for conservation," Nilabh Sen, director, Indian National Trust of Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) said. Conservation works being undertaken by INTACH at St Anne's church in their site laboratory were also reviewed.

"It is easy to scrape off and paint the antiques, but Italian experts advise caution, doing it centimeter by centimeter and observing every patch of work done, using microscopes. The idea is not to spoil the layers," Nachinolkar said.

Attended by professionals from Goa, Delhi, Ladakh, Bangalore, Mumbai, and other cities, the workshop focused through lectures, presentations of case studies and practical sessions, approaches to wood conservation, use of different materials for cleaning, consolidation and other aspects. " A proposal for development of joint Indo-Italian research projects in the area of conservation of material and architectural heritage has been mooted.

Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrao inaugurated the workshop while Narendra Kumar, Commissioner cum Secretary, Archives and Archaeology, presided over the valedictory function. (TNN)