‘Art treasures’ found in church
‘I’m shocked, it’s an amazing discovery and now we’ll unveil them for everyone to see’ - Fr Jim
DETAILED mosiacs, hard crafted by visiting Italian workers in the late 1870s, have been uncovered in renovations at the Dominican Church in Drogheda.
As part of a major €80,000 refurbishment of the church, new carpets were due to the laid last week, but when they were peeled back, an amazing piece of hidden ‘ treasure’ was discovered.
Running right along the front of the altar are some of the finest examples of Italian craftsmanship in the town, dating to when the church was built, between 1876 and 1878. ‘It’s quite incredible,’ Fr Jim Donleavy stated.
DETAILED mosiacs, hard crafted by visiting Italian workers in the late 1870s, have been uncovered in renovations at the Dominican Church in Drogheda.
As part of a major €80,000 refurbishment of the church, new carpets were due to the laid last week, but when they were peeled back, an amazing piece of hidden ‘ treasure’ was discovered.
Running right along the front of the altar are some of the finest examples of Italian craftsmanship in the town, dating to when the church was built, between 1876 and 1878.
‘It’s quite incredible and something I was not expecting to see,’ Fr Jim Donleavy stated. ‘ The detail is fantastic and the mosiacs are in perfect condition.’
The artwork features a host of designs, including one large one of the Dominican crest, although half of it is covered due to the altar being raised a number of years ago.
The mosaics were covered decades ago with carpet, but are now to be reinstated, Fr Jim stated.
‘When we discovered them last week, it was an very exciting moment and immediately got us thinking.
‘We had been looking at laying new carpet on the altar and up the aisle, but after finding the mosiacs on the altar we then worked on the aisle,’ he stated.
And then they found that it too has an elaborate and detailed finish.
‘It will take some weeks to get the whole project complete but when it’s done it will be spectacular.
‘Yes, we had considered putting carpet down, but we can’t keep treasures like this hidden from the people.
‘ The work is so detailed and in such fine order, we have decided to get it cleaned and polished.’
It will be covered up as works continue, but a grand unveiling of the new old Italian style mosiacs will be made on Tuesday May 2 at the 7.30pm anniversary mass for Fr Meade, who pioneered the building of the Dominican Church.
‘It will be an especially important day for the community here. I’m sure the people will be greatly impressed by what we’ve found,’ Fr Jim explained.
He says the discovery was only made possible by the very generous population who have risen to the task of bringing in the finances needed for the refurbishment.
‘We have collected over €24,000 so far and only for that money we would not have been considering replacing the carpets and therefore would not have found these works of art.’
It is believed the Italian artists who did the work came to Drogheda and stayed locally for up to six months to complete the job.
Fr Jim says he’s pretty inspired by the discovery and says the ultimate would now be to find the famous bottle of whiskey that is laid in the brickwork from the building of the church.
‘It’s said that Fr Meade came across workers drinking and they quickly hid the bottle and covered it up. Now that would be an incredible find,’ he stated.