«There are dreams that come true and battles that are won with tenacity, strength and love for art and culture. More than 50 years after the theft, we succeeded in an undertaking that seemed impossible: bringing the 1636 silver cross back to Mandas." Mayor Umberto Oppus expresses the feelings of an entire community.
The work stolen in the early seventies of the last century from the main altar of the parish church of San Giacomo has returned home. It had been entrusted to the Sotheby's auction house to be sold to the highest bidder. Hypothesis averted at the last minute thanks to the bridge of dialogue and diplomacy built between Sardinia and London. A solemn ceremony is scheduled for Sunday 28 January in Mandas, at 5pm, in the presence of the Archbishop of Cagliari Giuseppe Baturi, to celebrate the recovery of what is considered one of the symbols of the Trexenta town.
The parish priest Don Davide Pau thinks about the final organizational details in view of a religious event which will also be a community celebration. Oppus, in addition to being the mayor, cultivates an interest in historical research. «The work – he clarifies – is a valuable artefact created by Sardinian silversmiths. There are interesting analogies with the crosses present in the parish churches of Guasila, Muravera, San Nicolò Gerrei, Mogoro, Gesturi, Samatzai, Sestu and Cagliari (Sant'Eulalia and the Cathedral Museum). It belongs to the typology of the most complex crosses, particularly widespread in southern Sardinia, and inspired by Iberian models. The processional cross - concludes the mayor - is undoubtedly an artefact of great artistic and symbolic value both for the history of Sardinian art and for the community of Mandas which was deprived of it in an ignoble way. Private individuals and institutions helped us find it. Our gratitude goes to everyone."
After a very long wait, now there is only room for joy. The silver cross will be placed again in the high altar of the parish church.
