Bronze and niello statue of Attis (San Fernando, Cádiz)

Sancti Petri, San Fernando (Cádiz). Cultura romana (Sala 20, Vitrina 2)

The 1960s and 70s were a time of great innovation. Restorers no longer had to use the traditional products but could choose from a range of new and highly versatile materials: plastics.

Foreign literature and breakthroughs began to reach Spain, and the interventionist criteria of the English-speaking world—which insisted that objects should be reconstructed as fully as possible, even when there was insufficient information—soon became the norm.

The statue of Attis was treated at the Instituto de Conservación y Restauración in 1963 according to these theories, with the result that new plastic resins were used to reconstruct all the missing parts and the feet. Only the head was omitted from this approach due to the complete absence of any knowledge about its original characteristics. However, the technical quality of the work carried out did fulfil the primary aim of the conservation, which was to preserve the unstable metals from which the piece was made.

In 1986 the interior of the statue was cleaned and the sulphuration was removed from the silver decoration. The previous reintegration was preserved, merely adjusting the colour and replacing the protective coat.