A PROPOSAL FOR THE INTEGRAL RECOVERY OF THE COMMUNION CHAPEL IN THE CHURCH OF THE TWO SAINT JOHNS IN VALENCIA

Abstract

The Communion Chape,l was built in the seventeenth century (1644-1653) in the north side of the Church of the Two Saint Johns in Valencia. Its ground plan forms a Greek cross with the arms being somewhat different in length (19 x 14 metres). The interior decoration was done in the years 1693~1702, and it follows the neoclassical pattern. It has eight-metre half-point vaults on each side of the transept, which is covered by a hemispherical dome of the same diameter, six metres above the level of the vaults. The walls are decorated with classical motifs (columns, socle, etc.). Twelve metres above the floor there is a cornice which defines and divides the space in two parts, acting as a reference and as an articulation between the lower (floor) and upper parts of the space. The lighting comes from three rectangular windows (2.5 x 1m) above the cornice, and from the lantern in the top of the dome, made inalabaster. The chapel is also enriched with pictorial decorations in the dome (by Jose Vergara, 1872) and the upper corners (by Conchillos), and wall paintings (by Eugenio and Vi~ente Guill6, 1693). The Chapel was damaged by fire in 1936, and partially restored by the Roig D' Alos team in the years 1946-47 and 1965-66. They carried out careful work which made possible the recovery of the paintings in the dome, upper corners, and most of the decorations in the transept. The interest of the current proposal lies in the methodology that makes it possible to determine the coordinates of the treatment. Its main points are: .