Tuesday, 2nd May 2023
St Ildephonsus' Welcomes Visitors
After months of upheaval – involving lots of heritage-class refurbishments – the two dining rooms at St Ildephonsus' College are ready to receive visitors. The latest renovations in the large dining room have turned the former school canteen into a light and airy room for large groups, particularly bus tours, which have been growing steadily.
"The bus tours often have up to fifty tourists on board", said Groups Manager Joyce McKee, "and are usually people on a coach tour from Perth. They spend around an hour in New Norcia, where we serve them lunch in the new large dining room, before they head off to the Pinnacles and then back to Perth".
New Exhibition in St Ildephonsus’ Reception
St Ildephonsus' College chapel houses arguably the most spectacular of the ornamentation works of the Spanish monk artist Fr Lesmes Lopez OSB (New Norcia: January 1913–August 1922). Fittingly, a selection of another collection of Lesmes' works on paper – largely unseen for over 100 years – is now showcased in other areas of the St Ild's reception, namely the passageway and parlour into the dining room .
"Father Lesmes was an avid sketcher, primarily in pencil", said Jim Longbottom, who is assisting in curating the exhibition, "and we have nearly 900 to choose from. Eventually there will be thirty-two framed art-quality prints hung in the passageway from the front door to the smaller dining room (including the fourteen "Stations of the Cross") and thirty-two portraits and other sketches in the small and the large dining rooms".
Jim is planning for a specially prepared board describing the life and works of Fr Lesmes in New Norcia, along with a glass case display of his leather-bound sketch books.
Here is a sneak peek at two of the works:
