The Italian researcher Xavier F. Salomon revealed that part of the relics of the León Cathedral are works of the famous goldsmith and jeweler Luigi Valadier (1726-1785). He stressed that this discovery is of great importance for Nicaragua and the world.
The temple has 25 pieces that are part of the Valadier collection. Among them are: twelve candlesticks, two monstrances (the rococo monstrance and the small monstrance that was believed to be a replica), a chalice, a ciborium and nine reliquaries, including the Lignum Crucis.
Salomon assured that the relics are one of the greatest artistic treasures in Nicaragua, because the collection of the famous jeweler is not even in Rome. “This is a discovery for León, for Nicaragua and for the world,” he said in a Press conferencethis June ninth.
Related news: Relics of the Cathedral of León could be works of the famous goldsmith Luigi Valadier
In addition, he detailed that the “works were supposedly destined for a church in Mexico, the works were sent to Mexico and no news was known until now. The works have been here in León for almost 300 years, it is necessary to say that these works are important from the spiritual point of view».
The expert maintained that the pieces of art had been given up for lost by the Holy See and were only known about through documents. Likewise, he insisted that it is an “honor” that Luigi Valadier is present in Nicaragua and in America.
“These works have been through wars, revolutions and earthquakes, and they are still here. They have a spiritual and artistic value », he maintained. He argued that their value is extraordinary because of their antiquity rather than because of the material, since they are not made of pure gold or silver, but are made of gilt bronze.
For his part, Monsignor Sócrates René Sándigo pointed out that economically these works do not have great value, but due to their history, security measures are being taken to avoid any attempted theft.
For Xavier Salomon there are still questions about how the pieces of art ended up in Nicaragua. Despite not having a concrete answer, he indicated that the other researchers have searched for the works only in Mexico, because according to the records they were sent to that country, however they did not take into account that the structure of colonial Mexican territory was much larger and with its extension they could have reached Nicaragua.
He explained that to determine that the relics contain works by Luigi Valadier, he reviewed the documents from Rome that describe the works of the famous goldsmith, in addition to comparing the pieces with Valadier’s previous designs and the artist’s seal that appears on some works.
