Rough Groove

Palitada Seminar Workshop

Palitada Worskhop Seminar
San Agustin Museum
17 – 18 May 07

Seminar workshop on the significance of the Church Palitada

The paleta is, in Spanish, a wooden instrument, of triangular form and with a handle, used by the masons to apply the mortar and hold together the stones or bricks of a wall. In the Philippines it was transformed into palitada, referring not to the instrument used bt to the action done with it, the application of a trowel full of plaster to the walls. Thus the revocado of lime in Spanish became the palitada in Filipino, known in Mexico as the skin of architecture. Our seminar is addressed to all of you, custodians of historical and ecclesiastical buildings, architects, masons and people concerned with the restoration techniques.

Our forefathers, the architects of our churches covered the surface of their stone/brick walls with a mixture of lime, sand and water using, sometimes, an adhesive element, the molasses or white of the eggs. The purpose of the palitada was to protect the soft volcanic stone from erosion and making the surface of the wall even. When applied to the interior of the buildings it acted as a repellent of infections.

The palitada was the victim of the improvised “restorations” of church walls carried out in the early19th century. As a consequence, the walls of many churches were denuded of the palitada. San Agustin was one of them.

The purpose of this seminar workshop is to develop among builders, historians, architects, and restorers an understanding of the historic significance of the palitada and its need to protect the buildings from deterioration.

We recommend the seminar in a special way to parish priests and caretakers of historical buildings.

Please call San Agustin Museum at 02 5274060 or email samuseum@eastern.com for more information. Workshop fee is P1,500. Registrations are only upto 10 May.