Date: Fri 20-Nov-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LIZAM

Quick Words:

Goya

Full Text:

Monks Unveil Goya's Frescos

ZARAGOZA, SPAIN (AP) -- More women can now view seven frescos of the Virgin

Mary painted 200 years ago by Francisco Goya at the Aula Dei monastery.

On November 11, Queen Sofia opened a special passageway built in the Sixteenth

Century wine cellar of the monastery in northeastern Spain near Zaragoza.

"The idea was to allow women, as well as men, to see the frescos without

disturbing the monastic order," said Rosa Pellicero, a local government

spokeswoman.

Before the special passageway, only three women -- another member of the royal

family, a judicial secretary and a female restorer -- had seen the frescos

painted in the chapel by a 28-year-old Goya in 1774.

The monks, who belong to the Roman Catholic Cartesian order and follow strict

sex-segregation norms dating back 900 years, agreed to the passageway after

the Goya bicentenary celebrations in 1996 brought unwanted attention to their

ban on women.

Not that the old Spanish master's frescos will suddenly be unveiled to all.

Visits have to be booked, and with just one showing every month, reservations

are full until February.