This building, along with San Pedro de la Nave and San Martín de Castañeda churches in Zamora as well as San Martín church in Salamanca, is going to be one of the strategic points to boost and disseminate the heritage of the Atlantic Romanesque territory. This is a project of cross-border collaboration to preserve the cultural heritage in which Castilla and León Regional Government, Iberdrola Spain Foundation, the Secretariat of State for Culture of Portugal and Santa María la Real of the Historical Heritage Foundation take part.
Disposing of clear data which may inform us about the condition of the cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo is the first aim of the Atlantic Romanesque Intervention Plan team. This Plan is promoted by Castilla and León Regional Government and Iberdrola in collaboration with Santa María la Real of the Historical Heritage Foundation.
In order to achieve this goal the space has been monitored by setting 35 nodes with sensors, which are situated at different points in the building as to monitor its conditions of temperature, moisture, lightening and other features like the presence of xylophages which can affect the immovable properties preservation.
The data obtained by the sensors, will allow a better knowledge of the building’s hygrothermal behaviour and will facilitate its maintenance, preservation and management. This way, for instance, the monitoring is focused on diagnosing the wetness detected on the floor inside the cathedral, which damages it making the traffic of the worshippers and visitors more difficult
The information gathered, along with information previously obtained in other investigations carried out in the building, is going to be used in order to adapt future interventions to the building real needs, in such a way that further damage may be planned and anticipated.
Once the space is monitored the next step will be the drafting of a project in order to enable a space at the cathedral which may be used to spread the history of the building and of the Atlantic Romanesque territory.