Conservation studies in weathered sandstone from the romanesque facade of the church of San Julian (Salamanca, Spain).

Abstract

The north façade of the Romanesque church of San Julian in Salamanca (Spain), built with Villamayor sandstone, is heavily weathered, due to damp risisng from the basement, salt precipitation, contamination of run off and subsurface water and to the nature of the stone itself, containing swelling clays and calcium carbonate, among constituents. Such weathering has increased since resurfacing of the square by the church, thus giving rise, unfortunately, to accumulation of water close to the building. Weathering even reaches arenization in some parts of the façade, also altering the top part of the main entrance, where there are Romanesque statues and fine carving, and this area need urgent consolidation to avoid further deterioration. In the first stage, several weathered stones from the lower parts of the façade, without any artistic value, have been substituted. Consolidations test are currently being, carried out on these stones in order to assess their behaviour before performing definitive consolidation work on the upper part of the façade.