One of the most significant and interesting elements of the popular architecture of Serrablo and of many other towns in Alto Aragón have been the cobblestone floors. In the courtyards of the wealthiest houses and in some churches or hermitages, drawings and filigree based on pebbles were common. On the left bank of the Guarga River is the town of Belarra. Very close to the urban center, the Neo-Romanesque temple dedicated to San Ramón Nonato was built about eight centuries ago . Recently, both the exterior walls and the altar and the roof have been restored, leaving a part of the ground that is deteriorated pending. “And the last thing that remains to us, which is the work that we are going to undertake now, is the restoration of the soil, a road surface, pebble, a very interesting soil because it occupies everything that is the surface of the ship, Due to the variety of motifs it has, there is a mixture of geometric motifs and more curvilinear, more floral motifs, due to the state in which it was, well, for the years that the hermitage is and for the years that the hermitage is supposed to have. ground, which are quite a lot too, as it was fine. There are a couple of areas in which we are going to intervene, which are the worst, which are the ones that demand restoration. " The Asociación Amigos de Serrablo and Julio Gavín in particular, who drew the most significant soils in the region built with this technique, highlighted this important architectural element. “The floor of the hermitage of San Ramón seemed quite interesting to us. Julio Gavín had already drawn it a few years ago. He had a fairly complete drawing but there were some areas that he did not draw possibly because it would be full of debris from the deck that had already sunk. " “On the one hand we have the wide boulders used on the roads as windings, at the entrances to the patios, they are large, rude boulders and therefore have a function, which is that animals and people do not slip. But we are talking about other smaller boulders, which form drawings, filigree, which is the ceramics of these mountains. It is the baroque ornament of the few that were used in these mountains. We see them either in the manor houses of infanzonas, in the halls, especially in the patios, and also in the hermitages and in the churches. We see geometric motifs but we also see symbols, lily flowers, Solomonic knots, etc. appear ” Amara and Isún are two young restorers who have recovered the technique of laying the pebbles and are going to carry out the work of renovating the floor of the hermitage of San Ramón following the original drawing. For this, a preliminary phase of measurement has been carried out, drawing up plans and diagrams of the motifs and samples of the size of the stones have been taken. After this important phase, the technical drawing, which was carried out by Amara, had to be transferred to a real frame, in this case to the floor itself. “We created an imaginary line for ourselves. Then there would go one. It would go on the outside, from there to there. And here we are going to put another one. You see, Isún is going to pass me the rope and we are going to trace this. " “About around here, so we're going to nail it with a spike. So it roughly goes this way. " "This ... here ... well over here ... well we nailed and knotted it." First of all, the work area must be delimited by fixing guide ropes that will serve as a base for placing the stones. These strings, held with iron tips outside the motif to be restored so that they do not disturb, must follow the same layout as the original lines. It is very important that this previous marking comes out as was the primary one, since it is a sketch of the drawing. Once the restorers have marked the drawing, they leave the tips nailed and remove the strings to facilitate the next task, which consists of removing the stones and fillings from the parts that were once empty. “The fact is that in his time, when it was, the people who lived here what they did was try to make the land usable again and temporarily repaired. Then, in the face of deterioration, in the absence of stones, what they have done in some areas is to place some slabs, more or less at the level of the rest of the soil that there is. And in other areas what they have done then use those stones that they have removed, that have become loose, that have been lost, they have placed them again but not respecting, not remaking the original drawing that existed. So, there is an area where there is a bit of a confusion of reasons because the stones that were placed later to fix that deterioration have not respected, they have not followed the original drawing that there was, then, because we are going to raise both the slabs of a zone like that central zone where there is also pebble, but it is not, it does not belong, let's say, to the original drawing, to the original factory, we are going to do it, we are going to take advantage of that same stone and we are going to rethink with the scheme and sketch that we have taken because we are going to rethink the drawing that was originally there. " To remove the layer of buro that held the original stones, the soil must be minced to level the base on which the new layer of pebbles will settle. “On how we know the depth to dig, we look at the largest stones, these are the ones we call the guides or the ones that draw the main drawing, which have approximately four fingers. So, we calculate four fingers by eye. " Taking into account the depth at which the base must be left, little by little the layer of buro applied by those who built the floor is being pitted and leveled. The joining edges with the original stones must be free of dirt so that the new pebbles fit correctly. The extracted stones are classified into three groups by different sizes. On the one hand, the large and flat ones that are used for guides are piled up, on the other the flat and medium ones that will go inside the guides and finally the rounded ones that will be used for filling. With the base ready, it is time to reattach the strings to the nails that have remained in position. “So this motif is divided into two drawings, by a ribbon, a cord. So to draw it straight, we are going to put two more nails and two more ropes. " The tracing of the strings allows you to get an idea of how the drawing will look and if the new composition follows the original master lines. "You have to try to make the strings as tight as possible." The people who laid the primitive floor of this hermitage of San Ramón de Belarra used a layer of buro to settle and fix the stones. Today, new materials facilitate greater consistency of work. “We are going to add water, it will be a small amount because we need a mortar that is not very watery and almost work it as if it were dry. We will add little by little. " To do this, these restorers prepare a lime mortar, made up of eight parts of sand, one of lime and the other of white cement, worked with a small amount of water. "Well, nothing, this is done. We already have the consistency that we want. It is not a very wet mortar, nor is it very dry. It could still be drier, but hey, it works for us. Let's get it inside and start the next phase. " “We are going to place some wooden slats that will help us to take the level as we work, then, we place them on both sides of the drawing, the motif. And this will be the mobile, let's say that ... We leave it ready for when we need it. " For the mortar to grip the area to be restored, the soil must first be moistened. Then, following the rope guides, the necessary mortar is applied to place the stones of the central guide, which will serve as a reference for the rest of the drawing. "Little by little they are introduced, playing with the straight and the level that the rope gives you, if it is well taut it gives you level." The time has come to place the stones one by one on the mortar, adjusting them both in the longitudinal line of the rope, and at the level of it. "We are going to help each other from time to time with a hammer or mace to help the stone go down as well." The most important thing about this technique is that the paved floors are well leveled. For this it is necessary that the stones of the row that will act as a guide are at the level marked by the ropes. “So this is how the level and the straight line are checked. The strings give you the straight line and this gives you the level. " As the level progresses, Amara makes sure that all the stones are at the height indicated by the wooden strip. "Well, this is already leveled and the ribbon can be removed from here." The space that remains between the guide row and the original preserved floor must be filled with a pattern in the form of crossed zigzags. The working process is the same as with the guide row, first apply the mortar in the path indicated by the rope guides and then place the stones under pressure on the mortar. This is slow, observational work to correct stones as you go. Although the pebbles have been previously selected, each stone has its point of application according to the taste of the restorer. She looks for those flat stones that, due to the shape of their edge, can look good on the surface, giving a good view of the drawing. As she placed the stones, Amara adjusted the level with the ribbon. But despite this, a final review of all the guides with the level does not hurt. The outline of the motif is already prepared and leveled, and from now on you can fill in the empty spaces. But, for this, you will have to go to the river to provide yourself with the necessary material. The boulders are stones that are detached from the mountains and dragged down by the rivers, smoothing themselves by rolling down the boulevards and streams. For this reason, the storage of the stones necessary for the restoration is in the Guarga river, the same river in which those who built the primitive soil collected the boulders. Amara and Isún collect the three types of stones they need, ensuring that they all have the same color as the original ones, that is, gray limestone. “Of the three types of stones that we need, there are flat ones like these, which are rarely found, rather little, large flats for the guide and main drawing. Then we also need the small, medium-sized flats, let's see ... this would be worth it, which are the ones that fill us. And the small and rounded ones that are the easiest to find, which can be used from ... this one, this one can serve us, this one too, although it is smaller. What you see is the superficial part. Then, it can serve us well. We are throwing them there and then we classify them. " Now is the time to fill the guide beads with the medium flat stones. Previously, these restorers soak only the area where they are going to work. As the stones are placed, the restorers add the mortar as needed. These stones inside the cord, which have a small degree of inclination, are placed ensuring that they all have a similar shape and, as always, maintaining the level. “And with the naked eye you can already see how the level of the stones is going by touching, because if we have already left these stones level, if they are higher, they will have to be lowered. They can be lowered now with a mace or later with a board. " “We have come across a bit the problem of the lack of information or the lack of transmission of the specific techniques of how this type of flooring was made, because the older people, the retired pikemen with whom we have spoken, really they have either partially restored or retouched, but they have not gotten to make a complete floor. So yes, there we have found a void at the level of technique and materials above all. " This lack of information on the technique of placing the pebbles has forced the restorers to carry out various tests before undertaking this work. The stones to fill the spaces between the cords must be placed from the outside in, that is, from the guides until closing the space in the center. This traditional technique of decorating floors with pebbles is one of the peculiarities of the popular architecture of Serrablo. The issue of the boulders, what I think needs to be done is to integrate it into the broad context of what was the architecture of Serrablo, of this pre-Pyrenean area. An architecture based on very few elements, the elements that nature gave, that is to say, the limestone sandstone of the flisch, the wood, the mud, the tuff or tosca. That was all. A sober and functional architecture. " "In some cases we see mere zig-zags, mere geometric formations, which I suppose the pikemen would work according to templates, because there is a complex mathematical development and in other cases such as lys flowers, Solomonic knots, well there would be a symbolic, protective intention , to highlight the remarkableness of the house, etc. Many times, in churches, the boulders surround the graves that were in the ground to accompany, welcome, and give prominence to the burial. " The thick pebbles of the streets could be worked by any skilled pikeman in the area; however, these more complicated filigree motifs would probably be made by skilled people, as was the case with popular paintings in churches and hermitages. The pebbled floor became a decorative element that gave the place elegance, building beauty with those materials provided by nature. Press-fit stone-to-stone, wedged together over the mortar layer, requires a lot of patience. Little by little, the work is finished. The aesthetic results achieved with the drawing perfectly match the original motif. Only the difference in color produced by the wear of the original stones can give away the restoration carried out. The resulting drawing will have to be fixed with a light layer of finer lime mortar, which will have to be sieved beforehand so that no stones fall on the job. Once the drawing has been checked, the guide ropes and nails can be removed to free the area of the motif. The application of this light layer of lime mortar is done dry, using a brush and a trowel to introduce the powder between the stones. By applying this layer of lime mortar, the restorers have left half an inch of surface stone in view. Then, they lightly soak the layer of lime mortar so that, little by little, it absorbs the water, takes in moisture and sets the mortar. A few hours later the same soaking operation is repeated and with this the stones are permanently attached to the ground. The floor of the hermitage of San Ramón Nonato de Belarra has already been restored. With this action it has been possible to recover the technique of construction of soils with pebbles, of which there was no oral or written reference. Fortunately, the beauty of these floors, the hallmark of sarable architecture, has been recovered for future generations. “What you have to do with this filigree, baroque technique, inappropriate for these mountains, almost an excess for what was the spirit and materiality that existed here, is to put it in value, that new artisans like today we see here develop the technique , and that they be incorporated into new constructions as a valuable element. "
