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Devotional textile heritage poses a unique challenge for specialists: preserving historic pieces without their losing the function for which they were created. The Castles and Lions set of the Virgin of the Kings is a particularly significant example.
Preserving a historic piece that will remain protected in a display case does not pose the same challenges as working on an asset that will continue to be used.
This is one of the distinctive features of the textile heritage linked to the Virgin of the Kings. Her cloaks, skirts and sets have significant historical and artistic value, yet many of them continue to form part of the Patron Saint’s services.
Over the years, the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage (IAPH) has developed technical solutions aimed at making both realities compatible: restoring and preserving the material and aesthetic values of these assets and, at the same time, helping them retain their functional and devotional character.
The Castles and Lions set is a magnificent example.
In this video, produced on the occasion of the exhibition “Per Me Reges Regnant”, specialists explain this challenge and the importance of preserving a heritage that remains alive.
From the exhibition to the Virgin’s services
What happened this August makes it possible to see that reality especially clearly.
The Castles and Lions cloak and skirt had been part of “Per Me Reges Regnant” since the exhibition opened. The arrival of the Solemnity of the Assumption and the August services meant they temporarily left the exhibition space and returned to the Virgin’s wardrobe.
They are not, therefore, pieces detached from their original function. They are preserved and studied for their historical and artistic importance, shown to the public when possible and, when the time marked by the liturgical calendar arrives, they once again become part of the Cathedral’s devotional life.
This circumstance has also made it possible to renew “Per Me Reges Regnant”.
New pieces to discover until August 29
The sky-blue coronation cloak now occupies the place of the Castles and Lions cloak, while the skirt has been replaced by an outing set made by the Gilart Sisters.
Pieces belonging to the Child Jesus have also been renewed. The pink outing cloak has given way to the green outing cloak, also by the Gilart Sisters; the Castles and Lions outfit has been replaced by a 19th-century beige outfit, embroidered on silk satin with polychrome silks; and the Child’s Castles and Lions cloak has made way for a Brussels Point de Gaze lace collar.
The exhibition thus offers new incentives both for those who have not yet seen it and for those who wish to return and discover pieces different from those shown initially.
“Per Me Reges Regnant” can be visited until August 29 in the Murillo Room of the Cajasol Foundation, on Álvarez Quintero Street in Seville.