The Counselor of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Gonzalo Santonja, delivered the Nodicia de Kesos (959) and the Donation of King Silo to the Cathedral Chapter of León on Tuesday, following an intervention at the Center for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Assets of Castilla y León in Simancas (Valladolid).
After the work on the Nodicia de Kesos and the Donation of King Silo was completed, the Tumbo Legionense of León Cathedral is currently being restored, which is expected to be ready by the spring of next year, although the counselor preferred not to give specific dates. Other selected codices for this intervention include the 9th-century Miscellany, a Mozarabic Bible from 920, and a Lectionary from 1071.
The delivery event was attended by the Bishop of León, Luis Ángel de las Heras, the Dean of the Cathedral, Florentino Alonso, ecclesiastical authorities, the President of the Autonomous Courts, Carlos Pollán, and the Mayor of León, José Antonio Diez.
The restoration of the documents was necessary due to the deterioration caused by the passage of time, inadequate storage systems, and the use of elements such as clips. This resulted in folds, biological residues, rust marks, dehydration, and deformities.
At the Center for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Assets of Castilla y León, a multidisciplinary action was carried out that included cleaning, hydration, consolidation, and reintegration of lost areas through grafting onto new parchment. A conservation mounting was designed that allowed each document to be encapsulated for handling and preservation.
The institutional collaboration protocol between the Chapter and the Junta establishes the improvement of nine codices and four documents, which now return to the Archivo de la Pulchra Leonina. Gonzalo Santonja described the archive as "the sanctum sanctorum of the Spanish language in its origins" and the most important Early Medieval archive, highlighting that "they are coming back home."
The Nodicia de Kesos (year 959) is recognized as one of the most notable vestiges of the Romance languages, while the Donation of King Silo (year 775) is considered the oldest in the Kingdom of Asturias. The restorer of the documents, Paloma Castresana, pointed out that both were in acceptable condition given their antiquity.
