After some 30 months of painstaking work by the artisans of the Escuela de Taller de Filipinas Foundation, the restoration of the choir loft of the nearly 450-year-old San Agustin Church in Intramuros has been completed, and the loft inaugurated last week, in an event organized by San Agustin Church and Escuela.

“It is difficult, tedious work, but it has been very fulfilling,” said project manager, historian Dr. Esperanza “Chita” Bunag Gatbonton, in an interview with Lifestyle last May.

A technical presentation of the conservation program was also by made by Gatbonton before the inauguration proper, which had Spanish Ambassador Luis Antonio Calvo as special guest.

Escuela Taller is a training center for underprivileged youth trained in carpentry, ironworking and masonry, with a focus on restoring heritage structures.

It was established in 2009, and funded in part by a grant from Agencia Española de

Cooperación Internaciónal para Desarollo, the Spanish government’s foreign aid agency.

“The San Agustin Church choir loft is Escuela’s most challenging project so far,” reported Eric Caruncho in the Lifestyle report published last May 7.