Cathedral
“The request by the Catholic Church to create the façade of the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador is the greatest satisfaction that God has given me in my career. The destruction of that work by the same Church is the saddest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
The story begins…
In 1997, the Catholic Church of El Salvador, asks Fernando Llort to create a façade for the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador. The “Cathedral Foundation” had appointed a couple of architects from Spain to work on restoring the temple since it had been damaged in the past. These architects decided that it needed colour and something that represented the local art; that’s when Fernando is contacted to start, according to his words, the most important project in his artistic career.
Work begins. Fernando designs a colourful mosaic that was going to be comprised of 2,700 tiles, 25 cm x 25 cm each, all crafted 100% by hand; from making the tiles, to drawing, painting, finishing, all would be made by Fernando and a group of artisans working around the clock. Not an easy task, but the significance of it made the effort well worth it.
The project would take more than a year to be completed. Fernando would call it “Harmony of my people” (Armonia de mi pueblo); and it would represent a blend of El Salvador’s cultural and spiritual traditions; honouring God, the working men and women, and the harmony and peace that as a society we can all strive for.
“I named this project “Harmony of my people”, because of its artistic elements, but also because harmony is what our country needed the most at that particular time. Archbishop Romero was one of the people that God utilised so that I could find inspiration for it, and that’s why it’s got a special dedicatory to him. ”
26.12.2011
On that day, the Catholic Church of El Salvador, headed by Archbishop Escobar Alas, decides that the mural has to be removed without prior communication with the artist Fernando Llort.
There were several “reasons” they gave trying to justify their actions, among them: that there were new ornaments that would be placed on the facade and that the mural would “take away their beauty”; that 70% of the tiles were about to fall and could hurt people; that the mural contained symbolisms that were against the principles of the Catholic Church… In summary, they were not expecting the reaction of a lot of Salvadorians that couldn’t believe what they’ve just done and the archbishop was not ready to give logical answers to their actions.