The Return Of A Renewed Treasure: Abbey Creche Is Once Again Open For Visitors

By Shannon Hicks

BETHLEHEM — The 18th Century Neapolitan Creche at the Abbey of Regina Laudis has reopened following a three-year conservation and restoration project. While regular visitors — even anyone who has visited the Abbey only once to view the antique collection — have been waiting anxiously for 36 months for the reopening, I can report that the wait was worth it.

The creche and its barn reopened on December 8. It is once again open to the public every day, year-round, from 10 am to 4 pm.

A visit on Monday was surprisingly calm, even just past noon on the first day the creche was available for visits. Visitors park in an unpaved area in front of one barn, and walk across a small field, passing The Abbey Theatre, to reach The Bellamy Barn, where the creche is housed.

To get to the creche, one has to walk across a small field and through a clear break in a stone wall to reach the barn. The walk itself is a quiet one. It certainly invites reflection before arriving at the barn, not to mention following the visit to the beautiful scene within.

The walk early Monday afternoon was punctuated only by the sound of leaves, and the first snow of the season, crunching underfoot.

The collection is a remarkable ensemble, containing 68 figures each measuring 14 to 17 inches tall. The figures, whose heads, hands and legs are made of carved wood and terra cotta, are set up in a small village made primarily of the bark of cork trees that evokes the local surroundings of the Neapolitan artists of the time.

Dressed in their original 18th Century costumes, the figures vividly portray the Holy Family, plus children, old and young women bearing gifts, merchants and peddlers, a princess and her whippet, the Three Kings, and peasants and their farm animals. A multitude of cherubs surround the manger, and a trio of angels (who I could spend hours studying, they are so beautiful) are suspended above the scene.

The display itself is 16 feet long and six feet deep. It is housed in The Bellamy Barn, an 18th Century structure that is itself of regional and historic interest. The barn once belonged to the Reverend Joseph Bellamy, one of Connecticut's earliest and most distinguished ministers.

Caroline Woolsey Ferriday, whose family acquired the Bellamy property in Bethlehem, presented the barn to the abbey in 1949 for the purpose of housing the creche. The rustic structure is perfectly suited for the ambiance of a Christmas creche. It also happens to be of the same era of the creche's creation.

The creche was given to the Abbey in 1949 by Loretta Hines Howard (1904-1982) in memory of her husband, Howell Howard. Mrs Howard also gifted the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a similar creche (Baroque in style) some years later, one that is famously the centerpiece of the museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall every Christmas.

The Abbey Creche is believed to have belonged to Victor Amadeus the Second, King of Sardinia, and was most likely presented to him on the occasion of his coronation in 1720. After his death just two years later, the creche became the property of an Italian family of the nobility until it was brought to America in 1948.

The creche was entrusted to the Abbey, according to panels now displayed within the barn, to protect and preserve in perpetuity for the public.

Sister Angele Arbib, a spokesperson for the Abbey, said that visitors who have seen the renovated creche are pleased, and comforted.

"The public has been very happy when they've visited. There are still little things to do, just some tweaking, but they've been very positive with their comments," she said. "They love the work that went into this project, and they're also relieved. They haven't lost the creche that they knew."

Only The Best

The process of restoring the creche and barn began in July 2005. Of course no one involved knew going in how long the project would take, especially without knowing the full scope of the condition of the figures, display, and barn.

"It had been somewhat moth-eaten and just looked tired," said one visitor on Monday. "There wasn't a painted background and it was all very dark. It's so much nicer now."

According to panels displayed on either side of the creche, ¨The [restoration] brought to light, like the Epiphany scene that is its focus, not only the causes of the deteriorated condition of the display and barn — insect infestation, mold, moisture, inappropriate lighting, and so on — but also the cure, in a renewed awareness of and responsibility for the privilege of stewardship of this work of religious art."

When it came to the conservation and restoration work of the rare antique Nativity scene, only the best would do, and that is exactly who was recruited to design a new creche display area and preserve the figures and their costumes. A team from the Metropolitan Museum of Art was assembled, and each team member possesses the credentials to merit their selection for the project.

The creche's figures have undergone a conservation treatment by Metropolitan Museum of Art objects and textile conservator Won Yee Ng. A contract objects conservator at the Met, Ms Ng was responsible for the conservation and restoration of each of the 68 figures and their costumes. Fortunately, she has an extensive background in museum conservation that includes working as an objects conservator at the Brooklyn Museum and serving as head objects and textile conservator at the National Museum of Singapore.

She was assisted by Shirley Eng, a costume conservator; Jenna Wainwright, a Metropolitan Museum conservation preparatory; and the artist Lily Ng.

The restoration team also included Harold Koda, the curator in charge of the Met's Costume Institute, who acted as volunteer consultant. In treating the collection as a work of art, he was able to suggest the professionals in the museum world who took on the hands-on restoration.

Jeff Daly, the senior design advisor to the director for special and capital projects at the Met (and chief designer at the museum for 25 years), was project designer. As designer for the project, he envisioned an entirely new, climate-controlled display encasement to create a stable, protected environment for the display. His professional relationships facilitated many aspects of the project that enhanced the look and the safety of the collection.

"He works at the Met with the person who builds the glass," said Sister Angele. "It was very unusual to be able to get a piece of glass that wide, and it was through that relationship that we were able to find the glass manufacturers. Jeff also put us together with Rick Jellow of Luxam, who did the fiber optic lighting."

That's right, the 18th Century barn is not only home to a nearly airtight display case ("as close to airtight as you can get," confirmed Sister Angele

), it is also host to a fiber optic lighting system. Mr Jellow is a partner and the chief designer for Luxam, which manufactures and designs fiber optic lighting for museum showcases and exhibits.

Carl Werden, an architectural restorer and carpenter from Southbury, was responsible for the full renovation of the Bellamy Barn as well as the construction of a new climate-controlled display room. His work, said Sister Angele, reflected his commitment to protect the authenticity and integrity of the structure.

"We've really constructed [the display area] to replicate museum conditions," she said. "Carl Werden is an architectural restorer and carpenter, and he deserves so much credit for his work."

Also on the team was William Louche, the founder of Art Care International, who conducted an anoxic treatment of the figures and cork village to rid them of all prior infestation; and Salvatore Milazzo, a master restoration painter who worked at the Met for more than 20 years, who created the new mural with the assistance of his son, Gregory.

Nancy and Bill Furtek were among the first to visit the Abbey on December 8. The couple has been to New York City to see the sister creche at the Met, and drove from their home in East Hampton, Mass., to see the original one in Bethlehem.

"This is our first time here, to see this," Mrs Furtek said, "and we're so impressed. It was worth the drive.

"This is absolutely gorgeous."

Entrance to the Abbey is at 273 Flanders Road, off Route 6 or Route 61 in Bethlehem. If you are visiting from the north (driving from Newtown, for instance), go past the main entrance another two-tenths of a mile and watch for the sign on the right that says Pas Creche. Park in that area and walk toward the white building, which is The Bellamy Barn.

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