Graffiti removal on The Alcantara Bridge (Toledo)

In September 2019, the Alcántara Bridge in Toledo was vandalised, being painted with graffiti on its northern cutwater. The graffiti was extensive and poor quality, with two smaller blotches (signatures or acronyms of the group). This act not only caused aesthetic damages to the historical bridge, but the paint used also directly threatened its conservation state.

This paint had to be urgently removed, and in unfavourable weather conditions that extensively complicated such actions. The works done involved taking samples that enabled determination of the correct procedure to remove the existing paint. Tests were done via chemical and mechanical procedures, with the goal of determining the cleaning capacity of the different systems used and their level of impact on the original stone surface. After selecting the most appropriate methods (set of chemical and mechanical solutions), the graffiti and blotches were removed, and protection was applied to the stone surface affected by them.