Index
64
Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya
INNOVATION & RESEARCH
MISI BRUNED
Discovery, recovery and first intervention of the ceiling in Els Munts THE CEILING IS PART OF THE HOUSE OF CAIUS VALERIUS AVITUS, DUUMVIR OF TARRACO, AND HIS WIFE, FAUSTINA, an important enough person to understand the characteristics and quality of the techniques used when executing the decoration. Up until now these characteristics remained unknown. The ceiling was located in one of the secondary rooms of the domus no. 4700 during its excavations, and was in very poor condition, practically in ruins, due to the fire that caused its fall and destruction. It was very fragmented and mixed with structural remains from the living quarters, but retained its polychromy, as it was made with the fresco technique with lime paint finishes. Although it was initially difficult to understand its structure, it is shaped like a coffered ceiling; the surface is flat and arranged in longitudinal, transversal and tangential planes, in three differentiated reliefs or levels. It presents 6 coffers: 2 quadrangular and 4 polygonal (octagonal), at various levels. The support on which it is held up is made of several layers of trowelling of considerable thickness. These were originally made directly on a ceiling supposedly made of reeds and wood, with ropes and nails. When the ceiling fell down because of a fire, it fell to the ground, and remained there until its discovery, at which time it still remained in the room. First, specialists in Roman paintings dated the material through chromaticity, iconographic information, and location. Also, a series of analyses confirmed that it could be dated to the 2nd century AD. Given this, it was time to consider the intervention. The boxes, with all the material, were moved to the Central Services of the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona (MNAT), in Tarragona, in the space prepared to receive all the fragments and the team of restorers. We found fragments made with the fresco
RESCAT
