The Heritage department of the Alcalá la Real City Council is carrying out restoration work on two new documents from the Municipal Archive of Alcalá la Real (AMAR). The work, supervised by councilor José Moyano and technician Carlos Calvo, is being executed by the specialized company Acrona, Arte y Restauración.
The intervention focuses on a Council Minutes Book and a Census Book, both considered documents of great historical and documentary value for the municipality's memory. Moyano highlighted that "every document we recover is a piece of Alcalá's history that we manage to protect for future generations," emphasizing that these actions not only ensure physical conservation but also facilitate access for researchers, students, and citizens.
The work began with preliminary studies to assess the conservation status of the pieces, analyzing pathologies such as support loss, dirt accumulation, moisture stains, folds, and perforations. An organoleptic analysis was performed to determine the degree of deterioration and establish the most appropriate treatment.
The restoration treatments follow minimal intervention criteria, respecting authenticity and ensuring the reversibility of applied treatments. They include ink solubility tests, acidity control, mechanical cleaning of dirt and other residues, consolidation of paper and parchment support, joining and reinforcing cracks, and manual reintegration of existing losses.
The objective is to recover and stabilize both documents, significantly improving their conservation status and ensuring their preservation. Moyano added that "the Municipal Archive holds documents of incalculable value, and our responsibility is to conserve them in the best possible conditions."
This initiative follows previous efforts that have led to the restoration of significant documents from the Municipal Historical Archive, such as the Privilege of Wine and several Chapter Minutes Books from the 15th and 16th centuries, thus ensuring their proper conservation.
