Eight years ago, Goa’s foremost experts in the art of restoration were brought on board to be part of the magnanimous project of the conservation and restoration of the 450 year old Church of Santa Monica at Old Goa.
These experts are members of the Fernandes family, who live on the outskirts of Margao, who, for the last four generations, stretching back to 1857, have been committed to breathing fresh life into antique church altars, statues and ancestral mansions.
The Fernandes house at Arlem, which also acts as a studio and workshop, is where 70-year-old Agnelo Fernandes and his two sons Nickson, 33, and Glen, 29, both fine-art graduates, live. The family patriarch, who started the business, was Caetano Francisco Fernandes, popularly called Bico and the nickname has passed on to his grandson Agnelo who is also called Bico.
In 2008, when the plans were being formed for the church, Agnelo and his two sons who run their conservation and restoration firm were pleased to find out that they would be part of the team working on this church, that is part of the Convent of Santa Monica – Asia’s first and largest convent.
The church that is also a State-protected monument was restored by the Museum of Christian Art Goa (MCAG) with financial assistance from the Goa Directorate of Archives and Archaeology.
Agnelo, Glen and Nickson worked together on this project with the MCAG appointed restoration team and received technical support and advice from two internationally recognized art conservators and restorers, late Miguel Mateus and Jose Pestana of Portugal. The technical assistance of Mateus and Pestana along with that of conservation architect, Ketak Nachinolkar were sought by The Archdiocese through MCAG to carry out an in-depth study of the state of the church building, its altars, pulpit, statues, and paintings, the extent of deterioration and to draw up a comprehensive restoration project proposal. The proposal was approved by the state government and provided a grant of Rs. 1.3 crores in two phases and the work entrusted to the conservation architect, the two expert art restorers and their teams.
“This beautiful church with its exquisite altars, pulpit, miraculous crucifix, statues, paintings and art objects was in desperate need of repair and restoration, and preservation for posterity,” said MCAG.
Angelo recalled that the initial planning started way back in 2008 but the actual work started in 2011 and that the work given to them consisted of the conservation and restoration of the ‘Altars, Pulpit and the Arch. “As the work started we came across a lot of termite affected areas, the iron nails had totally rusted over time, the dowels holding the canopy of the side Altars were deteriorated; as a result of which the canopy and the pillars had given way. The replacement of dowels and other necessary wood work was carried out with seasoned wood and using copper nails and brass screws. All the Altars and the Pulpit were restored using the same colors that were found on research,” said Agnelo.
Speaking about the Pulpit, Glen explained that the original stone Pulpit that can be seen presently in the Church was hidden behind a wooden Pulpit. “It was a tedious job to dismantle the said wooden Pulpit as it was done carefully not to damage it as well as the mural painting on the wall that surrounds the excavated doorway of stone Pulpit. The dismantled wooden Pulpit is marked, consolidated and stored in a dry and secure place and will be assembled back at an appropriate place in the near future. The revealed mural painting was conserved and then restored wherever required,” said Glen.
Nickson spoke about the restoration of the Arch and pointed out that the arch was covered with layers of lime wash. “It was scalpelled out carefully to reveal and save as much as we could of the then magnificently painted intricate design all over it. We managed to preserve the original design that was revealed to us on two portions of the arch for public viewing and restored the rest. This was because, unfortunately, we couldn’t preserve most of its original shades and hence it was restored.” said Nickson.
It is to be noted that Agnelo has devoted himself to carrying on his father and grandfather’s trade. Agnelo and his sister Maria Francisca observed and assisted their father Lawrence Santan at work, most of which was commissioned by the Portuguese governor (the last Portuguese Governor General Manuel Antonio Vassallo e Silva). Incidentally, all four generations had worked on the Church of Salvador do Mundo in Loutolim and on the Our lady of Piety Chapel at Monte, Margao.
Besides their work on ancestral churches in Goa and the rest of the country, Agnelo’s family is famous for their work on ancestral houses. In fact, they’re one of the few to have learnt and mastered the art of the near-extinct skill of Sgraffito and have even recreated the stencil used to paint the Azujelo -the painting of tin-glazed ceramic tiles, is an aspect of Portuguese culture produced in Goa without interruption for five centuries.
“Neither I nor my sons were forced to join this line of work. This is my passion and this is my life. I will work till I am physically able to,” concluded Agnelo while speaking about his future.
