Sir - Visitors to Kilkenny this summer will discover that significant repairs have recently been undertaken on St Canice's Cathedral, one of the few medieval churches in the country which is still in use. Anyone with a serious interest in the Middle Ages, however, will be in for quite a shock.
The so called repairs amount to little more than the emasculation of this much loved national monument. The stonework of three of the Gothic doorways, carved over 700 years ago, is being reinstated with modern coloured mortars, stuck on to the fabric like children's plasticine. There are also indications that the old masonry has been deliberately cut in order to provide a "key" for the new mortar - though I hope I am wrong on this point. With the "treatment" complete, one of the doorways now looks brand new, the other an unsightly patchwork.
While decisions about stone conservation are never easy the solutions adopted at St Canice's are deplorable in both archaeological and aesthetic terms. What has puzzled medieval experts is that, most of this work seems to have been entirely unnecessary. Even more alarming is the news that the same methods are now being applied to the great west doorway, the finest early Gothic portal in the country.
Apparently planning permission was not required for these "repairs", yet it seems scarcely credible that one of our foremost national monuments should be vulnerable to treatment in such a cavalier fashion. Even worse, it is all being paid for by European funds.
Anyone who wants to see the great west doorway in an unreconstructed state should get to Kilkenny fast, though they may already be too late. Yours, etc.,
Professor of the History of Art,
Trinity College.
Dublin 2.