The work made it possible to restore the baldachin in the main chapel, as well as the oak yokes of the bells A Mayor and La Prima Salomé in the Torre de las Campanas, as well as intervening in the apsidal chapels at the head of the church and in the Corticela.
José González highlighted, in this context, the work of the CIS-Madeira in the sense of "contributing its knowledge and diagnosis, both in this building that identifies us all Galicians and in other areas in which work is being carried out".
He pointed out that the Xunta de Galicia is clearly committed to wood construction and to work of this nature, both in terms of recovery and in other construction solutions.
The Regional Minister for Rural Affairs, José González, today highlighted the value of the collaboration between the Xunta and the Santiago Cathedral Foundation in terms of research and innovation to repair all the existing wooden structural heritage in the temple that requires it.
The Regional Minister saw first-hand the recovery and conservation actions carried out under the agreement signed in 2018 for this purpose between the Galician Government - through the Galician Forest Industry Agency and the CIS-Madeira - and the aforementioned foundation, and will later close the day of presentation of the interventions carried out.
During the visit to the Cathedral, the Regional Minister was accompanied by the Director General of Forestry Planning and Management, José Luis Chan, by the Director of the Galician Forest Industry Agency, Jacobo Aboal, by the Director General of Cultural Heritage, Mª Carmen Martínez, and by the Director of the Foundation, Daniel Santos. The head of Rural Affairs stressed that this cooperation shows the commitment of the Xunta with the Cathedral of Compostela, taking into account its importance "both from the architectural point of view and from the constructive solutions". A collaboration that allowed for intervention and conservation while respecting the original materials as much as possible.
In particular, the work carried out made it possible to restore the baldachin (in the main chapel) with chestnut beams of the same age as the original ones, as well as the oak yokes of the bells A Mayor and La Prima Salomé (in the bell tower). In addition, work was also carried out on the apse chapels at the head of the church - A Blanca, Mondragón and El Pilar - using chestnut wood structures. The oak roof of Santa María A Antigua in the Corticela chapel was restored.
In this context, the Regional Minister highlighted the work of the CIS-Madeira in the sense of "contributing its knowledge and diagnosis, both in this building that identifies us all Galicians and in other areas in which work is being carried out". He added that "the Xunta de Galicia is clearly committed to wood construction and to work of this nature, both in terms of recovery and in other construction solutions".
In this regard, he said that the Xunta is working to place wood at the centre of public procurement policies and responsible green purchasing. The Galician Government's work in the forestry sector includes economic incentives and planning - especially the Galician Forestry Plan - as well as the future Strategic Plan for the forest-wood industry. Thus, the Forestry Plan is a valuable instrument for advancing the role of active forestry and sustainable forest management, as well as the production of quality timber. At the same time, the Strategic Plan for the forest-wood industry is a demand from the sector itself, whose mission is to bring the Forestry Plan into line with the needs of the industry, connecting resource and product.
Public promotion In this line, the promotion programme for the use of wood in construction starts from the public promotion itself, with collaboration agreements between the Regional Ministry Rural Affairs, the Galician Health Service or the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, for the promotion of wood in new health-care centres or in rehabilitation processes. In addition, the regional Ministry for Rural Affairs is already working on the construction of the new operational unit bases (known as BUO) of the Galician forest fire-fighting system, which will be built entirely out of wood, mostly from Galician forests.
This public promotion is the "lever" for private promotion, which needs to be boosted with incentives such as aid for the use of structural wood. This call, launched last year with a budget of 2.6 million euros, had a very positive response, with more than 380 applications in just over three weeks. Other financial aid is aimed at promoting afforestation and forestry, the digital transition and the use of wood through private and public promotion, as well as new uses. Always with wood with "denomination of origin", from Galician forests and native species.
In this line, it is also worth mentioning the publication today of another call for grants to disseminate information on forest products and services, which is aimed at associations, foundations, professional associations and universities. In these contributions, the use of wood in construction and rehabilitation is a core aspect. At the same time, the product requires a good administration of the resource, accompanied by legislation in line with this commitment, such as that represented by the Law for the recovery of agricultural land or the future regulation of integral fight against forest fires in Galicia.
In terms of the wealth that timber production represents for our community, Galician woodland can be defined as a real "savings bank" for the countryside and, by extension, for Galicia as well. Thus, in 2021 the forestry sector in our community registered an all-time record turnover, exceeding 2,500 million euros, and estimates point to an even higher figure for 2022.