An agreement signed by the Universitat de València and Valencia’s City Council will enable a study from the point of view of its manufacture, components and conservation status. According to Major Joan Ribó, the work will provide us “with very valuable information in the face of the creation of a replica the most reliable possible to the original”.

The meeting has also been attended by members of the Valencian Institute for Conservation, Restoration and Research of the Valencian Community.

The initiative is a result of the flag’s deterioration due to the passing of time. Hence, a comprehensive restoration is recommended.

The Senyera of 1545, the most ancient flag preserved at Valencia’s City Council, will be interdisciplinary studied and analysed in the first six months of 2021. The work team will include restorers, art historians, chemists, engineers, Fine Arts experts, and experts on new technologies applied to the study, conservation and virtual musealisation of Cultural Heritage.

In a first phase of study, the IVCR+I will approach fibre’s identification and the alloy of metallic elements and spiral threads of silk, whereas the organoleptic analysis and the physical-chemical characterisation of the dyes will be in charge of the Laboratory for Analysis and Diagnosis of Art Works at the Faculty of Geography and History (UV), in collaboration with the Central Service for Experimental Research (SCSIE-UV).

As part of the first phase, the Laboratory for Digital Production by the EASD-València, together with studio runrun-València, will carry out 3D and augmented reality studies for the following virtual musealisation. Finally, taking advantage of the virtual loom tool developed by the European Project SILKNOW: Silk heritage in the knowledge Society: from punched cards to big data, deep learning and visual/ tangible simulations, conducted at the Universitat de València, the specialists of the Robotics Institute of the institution will make a 3D virtualisation of the fabric techniques of the antique Senyera.