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Finalists at #InnovatorOfTheYear23 Project #FRH

Proud to announce we are finalists at the #FRHInnovatorOfTheYear project.

Thanks to  Future for Religious Heritage for this recognition. 

We really appreciate all the work done by our great team. Especially to Lucía Ruiz Ullate

 Ana Zabalegui

 

and José Luis Martínez Arce fotógrafo.

We also thank  Pilar Ortuño del Fraile and Tasio Ranz  for the graphic design

Cartel diseñado por Pilar Ortuño del Fraile

CARTEL DEL EVENTO DEL 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE EN SAN PEDRO DE CARDEÑA

We will continue working on this project with great care and we look forward to travelling to Krakow in september

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Looking while people look

The Oriental Institute (OI) was founded in 1919 to be an institution that studied the ancient cultures of the Middle East at the University of Chicago. Its collection holds more than 350.000 artifacts and its mission is to preserve, facilitate research and educate”. This information, the first that guests read when entering the galleries, is etched into my mind. It is not a surprise as I must have read it a hundred times.

Some months ago, while in my mission to discover all the museums in Chicago, I arrived at the Oriental Institute for the first time. At the time, the OI was one of the first in the city to reopen. Although there were masks, social distancing, and time constraints I was extremely happy to be back inside a museum after so long. That might have also affected my boldness when after my visit I went to the lobby and asked… “Do you have any openings?” Luckily for me, they did. And after a few emails, interviews, and safety training I donned my uniform and started my job as a gallery attendant.

My main role is to ensure guests’ comfort and safety while in the museum. Currently, this sometimes means having to remind visitors of Covid-19 regulations -my most uttered phrase must be “please Sir/Madam, could you please adjust your mask?-. But in general, my shifts are divided between answering questions, reading museum labels when the galleries are empty, and just seeing how people look and engage with the artifacts. I was surprised by how much I learned just by doing the latter

        

When I started my journey at the Oriental Institute I expected certain behaviors and questions. After all, I had been to many museums in my lifetime and I had interacted with gallery attendants before. And while people do ask for the bathroom, Wifi password, exit, closing time, or Covid-19 policies, these questions are not as common as I thought. Most guests approach me curious about the artifacts themselves. Sometimes, these encounters make for funny anecdotes such as the young man who asked me to explain the whole Mesopotamia exhibit for him because “he did not want to read anymore”. Or the student who argued with me that the cuneiform tablets could not be translated because “how would they know how to understand them if they were not there?”.

However, the most common question has always been “is this an original?”. This was asked in reference to almost anything: the mummies in the Egypt room, the ceramics in the Mesopotamia gallery or the gigantic bull of Persia -to name a few- were all artifacts I got quizzed about. Furthermore, visitors from very diverse backgrounds, ages, and behaviors in the exhibition would coincide in this question. From 12 year olds to to retired grandmothers.

The question in itself was not surprising. After visiting other museums in Illinois I saw that finding real-size reproductions of historical objects and environments was not uncommon. Some examples could be the White House in Abraham Lincoln’s Museum in Springfield or the Jazz Club in Chicago’s History Museum. It was not surprising then for guests to question whether the lamassu they saw was or not the real deal.

However, what perplexed me was the reaction to my affirmative answer – artifacts are real besides a few labeled casts made in a different color-. There was amazement and glee when considering the age of the objects -many even quoted how smart “their ancestors” were – but the casts also had positive reactions. There was no loss of interest in an object because it had been identified as a copy, people would still photograph it and spend time observing it. Authenticity did not seem to matter or at least it was not needed to appreciate the object.

Questions regarding authenticity and visitor expectations are more complex than what I can conclude by just watching people for a few months. But they have now resurfaced in my mind after this experience. I have enjoyed my work as a gallery assistant and now that my days in Chicago come to a close I will be sad to abandon it. I leave hoping that my time in the OI has helped guests enjoy and reclaim the physical space that is a museum.

I would like to thank my coworkers -especially Miguel for posing with me for the photos- for all their conversations, and my boss Vick Cruz -Manager of Visitor Services and Security– for taking the amazing photos that enhance this article.

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EUROPEAN HERITAGE DAYS. JAVIER, NAVARRA, SPAIN

A very special European Heritage Days

By the end of June, in agreement with the city hall of Javier, we decided to let the 2020’s European Heritage Days start, with this year’s slogan “Education and Heritage”. Everything was new and uncertain, the confinement during spring had just ended, so we were facing summer with as much excitement as uncertainty there was. Said this, the best option was to design a safe yet versatile plan for the Heritage Days, that could easily adapt to whatever may the future bring.  We had to do it, we had to do it for culture, for life, for giving work opportunities, even if they were small and according to our resources, but we had to get moving. So, the first thing we did was to connect our volunteers with the town of Javier, with its heritage and with its people as well.

Early meetings in Javier, during summer

Get to know each other, undertake, create

Once the program was projected with guided visits to the castle, summer concerts previous to the saved dates, talks about sailing during the times of Saint Francisco Javier, and the main course,  the outing of the paintings of the Dance of the Death at the Chapel of Saint Christ of the Castle of Javier, we presented it to the town at an open session in the City Hall.

Visiting over and over again

One of the things that the volunteer have done, especially María and David Rodríguez, was to learn a lot about the castle. They were present during many days of guided visits, they got plenty of reading material and then they rehearsed those visits on their own.

The organizing team next to the city mayor and one of the town councilors.

Another one of the studied spaces was of course, the Chapel of Saint Christ, or the Christ of the Smile. A small, non-visitable space. Why is that? Mainly for two reasons, the first one – at least chronologically- to preserve the paintings of the dance of the death, which are very close to the human touch. The second and nowadays most important reason, is that this space that invites to meditation and observation, makes it impossible to keep safety distances. It’s a heavy reason due to its sanitary importance

Those curious reflections seen on the picture have a reason: that photograph is taken from a superior floor and through a glass wall from where all the Chapel and its paintings are visible

All the volunteers visited the chapel and learned about the iconography and peculiarities of these pictures in Javier

Creative Implication. Fundamental for Patrimonio para Jóvenes.

Besides learning, in our Association it is very important to create. We look for implication, creation, thinking for a better support and communication of heritage to new public spaces. We had a challenge in our hands: We have to preserve, but how can we spread something that’s closed to the public? There are many precedents and examples of this dilemma. Probably one of the best known in Spain is the case of the Altamira Caves.

With this idea on mind, with the help of the photographer María Cantero, and the architect Juan Roldán Marzo, we prepared an expositive design that would exteriorize the paintings of the Dance of the Death. It was fundamental that they could be seen closely, yet in open and safe spaces, and people could interact with them to have a better understanding of this iconography. Here are some pictures of the process.

On the left, Laura Guindano mayor of Javier, talking with photographer María Cantero
María Cantero during her photographic tasks

This wasn’t an easy job for María Cantero. The space is very tight and dark too. It took many hours in the chapel and overall, a lot of time focused on the edition and adjustment of the images.The result was extraordinary and that helped Juan Roldán on the creation of individual panels from which the skeletons could be removed. Before going through all the paintings, he presented in Javier a prototype created with the help of his friends from “Rótulos Diper”

Laura Guindano with Juan Roldan on August

Until the day arrived, the music…

We thought it was a good idea to create previous events to the European Heritage Days. A jazz concert in the terrace of a bar in a summer evening was something convenient, nice and relaxing. So we did that.

Iñaki Rodríguez

We called our friends form Pamplona Jazz, who had already been with us on February in ‘”In love with a museum ” Back then, we couldn´t suspect the circumstances that would bring us together again.

Luisa Brito

Nevertheless, the important thing was the reencounter with Iñaki, Luisa and Ramón, and how great their music sounded, leaving astonished to all of those who hadn’t listened them before.

Ramón García

Here are some pictures of that August evening.

They day finally came

We had walked a long road for months. Bonds were tightened, Knowledge grew, we enjoyed it fully, and September 25th came and left as any other day, but leaving great memories behind.

That Friday we didn’t have the usual summer weather of past Heritage Days. It was cold, on Saturday it rained, but we felt the warmth of the Heritage, of the fruits of a thoughtful work done for a long time. That Friday 25th we greeted members of the Institute of Naval History and Culture, Eduardo Bernal and José Cánovas. They talked about “Sailing in the times of Saint Francisco Javier” and the circumnavigation of Magallanes-Elcano”.


Cánovas. They talked about “Sailing in the times of Saint Francisco Javier” and the circumnavigation of Magallanes-Elcano”.

We filled our allowed capacity. Everybody helped out by having a seat and keeping a distance, and the hotel staff meticulously took care of the distribution of the room for the people’s safety. The next day, people arrived to enjoy the guided visits that María and David had rehearsed so much

An European Heritage Days that we will never forget

It was lovely to watch the support and affection they received from their firends. All of them came to Javier to discover the castle in a very special way. The public that day was heroic. Bad weather, rain and cold, and yet they were there

David Rodriguez during one of the visits

The groups of each guided visit, normally with a máximum of 20 people, were now reduced to 15. That meant we had to put extra work because the demand was bigger, but we delightfully complied.

I myself was in the porch of the building next door explaining the externalization of the Dance of the Death

María Odériz preparing everything before the public’s arrival
General view of the exhibition room with the paintings of the “Dance of the Death”

One of the essentials of this exhibition was, as I said above, interaction. To get people to enjoy and understand, and therefore, to leave with the feeling of discovering a new face of Javier, appreciating its heritage a little more. There were very fun moments and many people took pictures. Here are some of our volunteers.

In the afternoon we had scheduled a visit to the “molinaz”, ( The molino) the ruins of an ancient mill next to Javier. A walk by a gorgeous river, but unfortunately they day didn’t help us. Our volunteers went through the route and verified that there was too much mud and tangled roots that could end in a dangerous accident, specially four our elderly visitors.

We opted to listen to the talk at the City Hall, and it was great to listen to Enrique Galdeano. In a pleasant yet insightful way, he made us realize about many dilemmas that come up during art restoration, about our experiences facing ruins and the meaning of ancient buildings through time.

At last but not least, with Jorge Feito , Technical Manager Mining at Geoalcali a present and on-line talk about “Nurturing the earth”, because landscape is part of our heritage as well, and knowing how to take care of the field that surrounds us is very important.

The only thing left to say is that finally, for another year, we’ve peaked. Thank you all for coming, Thanks to the town of Javier for trusting Patrimonio para Jóvenes on the management of this European Heritage Days.

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In love with a museum

            Our main goal: a young public

When we head to a museum and propose activities with teenagers or young people in general, their response is almost always filled with surprise. Young people? But they never want to come! And we say, yes. We are looking for those who don’t want to come. Some really want to though, but they feel a little ashamed of this due to peer pressure.

We want to ask, Why don’t they want to come?

Can we put the blame on the  educational system? Is efficiency much more important than creativity and learning to look at art?

At this point, a very interesting book by Nuccio Ordine comes in handy:  “ The use of the useless “L’utilità dell’inutile. Manifesto”

And after all the questions, we head right into action. Doing this in a way they can enjoy it, with the ideal language, time and so on.

Public within their fifties are loyal to the museums. Especially women. It doesn’t matter  what exhibition is ongoing , what a conference is about, they’ll go. And it happens in big, well known  museums such as the Prado Museum, as in smaller ones in tiny villages, just as the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum.

        “ Feel the museum” was born 

For more than a year, the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum was closed because of the installation of an elevator. Something absolutely needed in order to allow old people or people with disabilities to have access to the museum rooms.

With the occasion of the new opening , Camino Paredes, the person in charge of the museum, asked Patrimonio para jovenes for some proposals of activities here.

Talking about accessible museums we thought of “ Feel the museum”, with special focus on people with visual disabilities or straight blindness. It was about touching the objects represented in four paintings of the museum. Wood, porcelain, silk, jewelry, headdresses, fabrics… Even with perfumes that evoke the scenarios of the paintings, but let’s talk about perfumes later.

And , of course, the sense of hearing. First with the nice explanation by Iñaki Rifaterra and with the help of music. Flamenco for “ En la Dehesa” and “ Copla Andaluza ” and Jazz for “ Evening party “ and “ Ciro’s Club couple”. Camino liked the idea, so here we are now.

With the help of great professionals : Iñaki Rifaterra and Puy Portillo 

 

I met Iñaki during a Christmas children’s workshop taught in Euskera. He works as a guide at the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum. His kindness, smile, and knowledge makes you trust him at first glance.

Puy Portillo is the person in charge of communication at the Museum. She had such a great ability when broadcasting the news about the event “ Feel the museum” on newspapers as well as in social networks.

            The musicians

 

As professionals, they were very conscious about the public. Thinking about young people in the museum, they had to adapt their repertory to them. All of them, both with Jazz as with flamenco, played in harmony to the four paintings we were talking about.

What a pity, just because of space and security, jazz musicians are not in front of “ Evening party”. Look at this painting here

Evening Party

but in front of “ The couple of Vozmediano” another painting that has a great relation with our association, have a look here

                    Meanwhile,  the perfumes

Music began at the same time we presented to essences Chanel n 5  and “Wonderwood “ ( perfumed water from sandalwood and cedar) with jazz.

Flower and amber fragrances  introduced the Flamenco music.

 

            The surprise : Gipsy young people from La Merced slum

 

If we can blame someone for spreading magic, art, and great feelings, it has to be these children. They sang and danced in such a way that someone broke into tears. Tears provoked by the emotion of art that causes more art.

Thanks to Ricardo Hernández and Sonia from GAzkaló for coming with us and making possible the visit of these children.

It took four months to prepare an event that lasted one hour and a half. Time well spent thinking, travelling, and introducing people, but everything is well worth it when you get a result such as the one you can see on the pictures here . If you want a deeper look, visit our social profiles and you can also enjoy some videos.

 

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Art and Entertainment at Larraya

        GIVEN VOICE TO THE HIDDEN HERITAGE (ONCE AGAIN)

Here we are. This is one of the main goals at Patrimonio para jóvenes. Hidden heritage, small beauties, not very important, not big enough to be visited by big tourist groups. But a heritage belonging to a village, a people, an identity.

We have travelled at Larraya, at least twice.

       ON THE ROAD TO EUROPEAN HERITAGE DAYS 2019

This year the slogan is Art and Entertainment.On the website of the European Heritge Days you can find more information about it. Here are some ideas: “Will be exciting to witness diverse European cultural traditions share a collective stageate the 2019 European Heritage Days. From street shows to concert halls, traditional theaters and museums to modern cinema and digital art, entertainment heritage of Europe will play out on local, national and European stages for visitors and guests of all ages to enjoy.The all-encompassing theme will include sports, photography, tourism, circus, fairs, visual arts, cinema, radio, and television among other entertainment-inspired art forms”

Here you can see us wtih local sport as ” pelota’, music, and the architecture as the satge and meeting point.

         A MEDIEVAL  PORTICO AS A STAGE

First of all, this small church and its protico must be known. Musicians from Pamplona Jazz orchestra visited first the place. We remembered one of the functions of “porticos”: a place of entertainment.( The main functions were liturgical, morturary and also as a meeting point for the village council)

After the concert, we had a visit to the inside of the church. Today restored, it conserves a nice atmosphere given by the Romanic architecture. San Roman of  Larraya is cute and peaceful.

Its so nice the tabernacle, done in Renaissance style.

      AND HERE WE ARE AT THE FROTON

Nothing better than this to share and promote the ludic aspects of heritage. A fronton beside a church. Places where a community is gathered for prays and games Juan Barriola, one of the people in charge of Pelota Club of Ardoi, is very concerned about protecting frontones with its original function.

         AND A PALACE

A palace “cabo de armería” typical from Navarra. It was so nice the chat with its owners Martin and Visi. They tell stories, memories, and so on , that everything concludes on alive heritage

       THE VALUE OF THE LANDSCAPE

The landscape as heritage itself. The place where architecture and art in general are located.

Larraya in spring time has a soft aspect, relaxing, green. A kind of small English countryside.

Even the cats look as if they were very interested in all the show there

       AND IF YOU ARE IN SPAIN, DON’T FORGET TORTILLA DE PATATA

Tortilla, red wine, chorizo and all of the famous typical tapas or pinchos from our country.

A good way to enjoy conversation and the friendly people of Larraya. Once more, remember, the heritage is alive when is visited.. The video by Clara Frago , here

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The way we were

             The way we were. Familiar archives

Our title today sounds like the one of a famous film. But it’s all about familiar archives. How can we preserve documents, letters, pictures from any relative ?

To guard the identity of a family. The more we know about our own history, the better we can understand ourselves, life and some circumstances. As a result, the sum of familiar histories, could be the little history of a village.

       A familiar archive in a pretty village of Navarra

Patrimonio para jóvenes it’s not only a project in order to help youth to discover art and cultural heritage. Their team want also to promote young people who is very keen on humanities and creativity.

Marta Castaño, here you have her on the first picture, was the person in charge of this history.

At the beginning of last year, we were looking for an archive. Something with a kind of historical or political value in Navarra.

Have you ever known anyone saying: “ I don’t know what to do with all this mess of papers from my grandfather?

We were looking for that, but we came across the archive in Urroz Villa talking to Javier Garisoain. He needed some help with his father’s archive.

Miguel Garisoain Fndez played an important role being in charge of a political party: Comunion Tradicionalista Carlista.

Marta opened boxes and boxes, and classified documents. Just the beginning. It takes hours and hours to look carefully to thousands of papers. Marta had to classify them with criteria. At the same time, Marta had to leave proof of this classification in a memory.

During winter, spring and some part of the last summer, Marta traveled from Pamplona to Urroz two or three days at week. She read, took notes and classified. Along this post you can observe differences from the beginning till now.

      A workshop about archives :

We also had an informal talk about the way we “ write” our memory at present.

The amount of pics on social networks, are all of them relevant?

What are we telling? What we really want to be remembered from us? It is important or not prepare a kind of memory from ourselves ?

Would we like our family cto remember us through an archive with pictures , bills, books we had bought, tickets and so on ?

Today flights, rain, cinema or theater tickets are displayed on mobiles.This made life easier. But, is there any inconvenient?

Bid data, help for writing a history or bring us into a big mess? Could you give your opinion about advantages or disadvantages of this matter?

          And of course.. have fun

After the talk, we went for a walk around Urroz Villa. Explore some spaces, climb up the bell tower and walk over the vaults was a funny experience. We finished with a great Spanish “ tortilla”.

Nice day.

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Romanesque with another perspective

              An Invite for the Undecided

Due to many reasons (educational system, way of life and so on) there is a kind of wall built between young people, art (with the exception perhaps of Contemporary Art) and cultural heritage.

Say the word Romanesque or Medieval Art and you have a big bus full of retired people ready to go wherever you want to take them.

Say the same words to students and suddenly they are very busy because of homework, their grandma is ill or they have to train hard with their sport team.

It is necessary to encourage young generations to not take for granted their heritage. But it needs a new language, another way of communication. All without treating the content in a shallow way

Art and cultural heritage, even ruins, are never a fairground. Even if them could promote having fun!

      Coming back to St Esteban of Eusa

Saint Esteban at the little village of Eusa (Navarra) is a nice example of churches with “portico”,a kind of atrium . We had been there some years ago. Children at that time today are students at the university, even young professionals. To whom had been before, this day was a nice remembering. For the people who arrived for the first time, it was a surprise.

We made a proposal to Iñaki Rodríguez, the conductor of Pamplona Jazz orchestra. Something like “ Jazz inside the atrium”. The idea was born during the past European Heritage Days.

This time it was not a concert itself. It was dealing with a workshop about sound and acoustics, inviting people to be part of the show.

Before the event, Iñaki told me; let’s see if my pupils want to joinus.

Let’s see if they dare to.

They came, they dared, and had a great time loosing the fear to art

I hope so…

          Functions of an atrium

In a very easy and brief way,the students knew the functions of an atrium at the middle age : liturgy, funeral acts, meetings of people in charge of ruling the village and last but not least, entertainment.

In fact we can see scratched on stone a kind of game similar to chess.

It was a pretty sunny day. Sunlight on the stones gave the atrium a golden aspect. . Thanks to the rain and snow of previous weeks, the landscape was in a deep green colour.

We also observed decoration of capitals and before explanations people talked about what each drawing suggested.

Time went quickly and it was lunch time. Some of them, went to share a nice menu at Sorauren, a village not far away from Eusa and even from Pamplona.

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Museums that let us dream

            THE STORY OF A VIDEO

                       Click here to watch it.

THREE VERBS PRINTED ON GLASS.

On A glass and in full color: Learn, Engage, Enjoy. This was the proposal written in the entrance of the Ryan Learning Center of the Chicago Art Institute. Those three words marked me. I found them superb, because it also matches perfectly with a recurrent phrase here at Patrimonio para jóvenes : “Art is not a subject, it’s an experience”.

2018 is the European Year of Cultural Heritage, and this occasion demanded a special homage, and there’s nothing better than letting Clara Frago talk to us through her camera.

       The #Meztuelviaje Video: What For?

To link the collections found in the museums with the work of an artist within those collections: In this case, the work of Gustavo de Maeztu from Estella, and the Beaux-Arts Museum of Bilbao.

To link the painting with the painted landscape (the Sorian countryside) and the landscape with traditional costumes.

To let these links turn into creativity. There had to be a speech, an original script. Telling the story of someone visiting a museum had no special interest. However, if those visits appear by the strength of the paintings, if these works are the ones dragging the observer until merging into the piece of art, the whole story changes.

To turn creativity into an ambassador of cultural heritage.

The story of this video takes us to two museums, one in Navarre, the other in Bilbao, and to the surprising Sorian village of Calatañazor. Showing you these places is our way to invite you to visit them.

FEW RESOURCES TURN INTO A CHALLENGE

A simple camera was all our equipment. A simple camera, but a great team

#Maeztuelviaje its a perfect example of the wit, creativity and expertise that represent Clara Frago Daza’s work.

We rooted for her four years ago, when she was still a student at the Communications Faculty of the University of Navarre. Now she has become a professional and her work never disappoints.

This Project has taken tons of hours from her. Despite the trips were long, they were the most entertaining part. The hardest challenge was to sit down and think how to tell this story.

AN EXPERIENCE THAT GATHERS PEOPLE

#Meztuelviaje was recorded between February and May, with many small obstacles such as rain, storms and winds. Against all odds, the Project could move on, also thanks to the collaboration of many people.

Camino Paredes, director of the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum and Eneritz Guillen Monasterio from the Communication department of the Beaux-Arts Museum of Bilbao. In both museums, they made everything easy for us to record its interiors.

While in Soria, Enrique Borobio went one afternoon to Calatañazor with his complete collection of Sorian costumes. We couldn´t help dressing Juan Roldán just as the Blindman of Calatañazor.

Due to obvious protection and preservation reasons, we couldn´t use the original robes from the Museum of the Sorian Traditional Costume. They’re very antique, and their handling is extremely delicate. Enrique gave us a lesson about the importance of preserving while spreading knowledge about these treasures.

Juan Roldán: Architect and fearless collaborator. In January we asked him if he would be interested on an acting career, he didn´t hesitate on saying yes, so now he was just expecting Clara’s instructions.

Marta Castaño and Miguel Mirón joined them and enjoyed the Castilla experience.

They enjoyed of the beautiful landscape and a delicious breakfast while being delighted with the gorgeous views.

I am pretty sure none og the mis going to forget that work of Gustavo de Maeztu.

They will always have the Sorian landscape and characters from Vozmediano and Calatañazor. As the time goes by, we’ll go back to this video and we will revive all this moments and experiences.

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Ventura Rodríguez, the architect

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando Gathers Together to Members and Friends of Patrimonio para Jóvenes.

 With the 300th anniversary of the birth of Ventura Rodríguez, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, organized an exposition about the architect. This was the perfect occasion to meet up with our members from Madrid and its surroundings. And a perfect occasion to invite them to see Ventura Rodriguez´s work in Navarre. Since not all of us could come, we organized a raffle to see who was coming. The exhibition was magnificent. You´re still on time to make a visit, since it´ll stay until april 8th. If you want more information, click here.

On this picture you can see some of the youngest members. And it was Maria, the littlest of all, the third from the left, who won the contest to come to visit us in Navarre. She did it a few days later, accompanied by her mother, Nuria.

   Discover, Relate, Learn, Enjoy

The exhibition about Ventura Rodríguez had a Little “but”: it could be too complex and hard to be appreciated or enjoyed by the youngest observers. With Ana, our guide, we did what we could in order to make it more approachable, talking about something very well known: The Fountain of the goddess Cibeles.

Designed by Ventura Rodríguez (although it was built by two othe sculptors) is an emblematic fountain, a “must” stop in Madrid. Either you are a soccer fan or not, everybody relates this fountain with Real Madrid. This helped us as a hook to demonstrate the importance of Ventura Rodríguez, his projects and works.

If you want tocheck out more about the category, complexity and setting of this exhibition in Madrid, you can watch this video.

By the way, it would be an authentic delight to have an encounter of the Patrimonio para Jóvenes “troupe” with the staff in charge of the setting of this exhibition and other not-less-important ones: Arquitectos Frade

Along the explanations we started to familiarize ourselves with Ventura Rodríguez and his work. Little by little, the curiosity about his work in Navarra started to flourish.

By the end of our visit, we made the raffle. We had a little bag with blank pieces of paper, except for one that had PAMPLONA written on it. The one who took this piece of paper would come to Navarra to see the façade of the Cathedral, the Bell Tower, the Noain aqueduct, and of course, to enjoy the city.

       And the Winner is…Maria!

The youngest member of our group was the fortunate one. As an anecdote, she took the papero ut of the bag without noticing she was the winner. For some reason, she thought that each of us was taking a piece of paper with the name of a different city, so she didn´t say anything. It was her mother who noticed. As you can imagine, Little Maria had a hard time being the center of attention, clapped and cheered by all of us. You could say this is a very personal and very intense way to discover Ventura Rodríguez .

It was a February afternoon, intense, kind, full of encounters, introductions, memories and all these details that come with the effort of making a visit. We said good bye and went to our respective Metro stations, buses and plans. However, all of us left with the feeling of being part of something bigger that gathers people together no matter their age, origins or education. It was the interest in appreciating and discovering our culture.

   Two Visits in Pamplona: First: The Cathedral and its Tower

In Patrimonio para Jóvenes we don´t like rushing nor overwhelming people with contents and information. We prefer little drops, generate curiosity step by step. And overall, we want people to have a great time with us. Let´s not forget that we are addressing to the most complex public: The one who generally is not interested in this kind of activities. So we have to awaken their interest, our biggest challenge. And this can only be done with care, preparing every visit with an artisan’s technique.

      A VIP Guide…

There´s no better way of showing the love that we put into our work tan visiting the Cathedral of Pamplona (relating the visit to Ventura Rodríguez) with Verónica Quintanilla Crespo, an architect specialized in restoring cultural heritage. You can see her on the picture above.

Verónica and her team were in charge of the restoration of the facade of the Cathedral of Pamplona.

All the visitors were amazed and said that they were discovering a new perspective of the Cathedral. They´d never seen nor thought about many of the details Verónica talked about.

While Verónica explained, Clara Frago captured with her camera those instants of communion and harmony of diverse environments. Surroundings where we discover new projects and designs for the façade of the Cathedral at the same time we re-imagine how the primitive Romanic façade would have looked like.

It was very interesting to listen to Verónica and how she approached us to Ventura Rodríguez ant to the Cathedral with the delicacy of someone who has had to listen, discover, observe and interpret to a great architect in order to intervene on his work. Take it back to its original glow with humility and generosity.

An architect that restores cultural heritage has to be humble”. I couldn´t resist falling for this comment. In a restoration project, the personal mark is not important; the main objective is to give back the starring light to the geniuses who created that piece of art. It was an amazing morning, another one on this February centered on Ventura Rodríguez. All this was occurring at the same time we were preparing Clara´s exhibition, that you´ll be able to visit in the main headquarters of La Caixa in Pamplona until April 15th.

It was such a pity that all of us started moving around, so just half of the group is shown in this

     The Visit to the Aqueduct of Noain

A week later we got together again to have a walk around Noain and enjoy the views of its aqueduct. This time, our photographer was Borja Centenera Crespo.

A lot of us have seen the aqueduct many times while being on the highway or by train. None of us had ever gone below its arches, and all of us agreed that the view is completely different. From below, you can appreciate the whole magnitude of this work. We talked about the way water used to be brought to Pamplona and reflected about the problem of water supplying and how we take for granted daily activities like opening the water tap, take a shower, or doing the laundry.

And of course, we thought about all the work that building an aqueduct demands.

The aqueduct of Noain also helped us remember the fountains of the city of Pamplona that received wáter thanks to the aqueduct. Since it was impossible to visit them during the day, I took pictures of them a few days earlier and then sent them through Whatsapp.

We talked about math and physics, the awareness of land, and overall, we had a blast. As always, Borja took fantastic pictures of our day.

A February that will be saved in our memories, a month dedicated to the architect Ventura Rodríguez. This poster, designed by our wonderful Clara, is the one she created to announce

Every time I write about our activities, I get the exact same feeling. How long and slow it feels when preparing the activities, and how fast it occurs later, how easy it becomes a souvenir. Some of our members leave us, most of them to prepare the MIR exam after their Medicine degree. But new generations are to come, so Patrimonio para Jóvenes keeps on working.

I say goodbye for now with this pic of the newly arrived members and a video about Ventura Rodríguez that´s worth watching over here.

So long, Ventura Rodríguez

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Dreamt architecture: The Expo

                 Because of Another Visit

In January 2017, we had a walk along the First Expansion of Pamplona. While preparing that activity, I read, observed and looked with a different view to this area of the town that can be misunderstood. Building created in the end of the XIXth century and the beginning of the XXth century get mixed, confused and almost hidden among taller, more modern and more impressive buildings. I found out details that I’d never seen before. And during the visit, all the people made the exact same comment: I had never seen this before. This topic awakened so much interest that it was a must to pull its thread..

               Photography as a Way

We started everything to prepare a photography exposition that fulfilled two of the main goals of Patrimonio para Jóvenes. On one side, to spread awareness about art and cultural heritage. On the other hand, to promote the work of young professionals. On November we started the search of the appropriate place. It had to be big, easy to be seen by pedestrians and inside or at least, close enough to the First Expansion.

We proposed the setting of this exposition to many entities. In the end, the idea worked for La Caixa, so we started working

            Working During Christmas

Since the first weeks of December, Clara Frago re-visited this houses that she had saved in pictures back in the day. Now, more calmly, by her own and focused only on her camera lens, trying to catch the spirit, almost magic of this buildings and its entrances. We´d like to thank to the Chamber of Commerce, the Residence of the Repairing Mothers and the Joaquín Maya School of Music for all the facilities they gave us for taking pictures of its interiors, ot from their Windows and terraces to take pictures from the heights.

At the beginning of January, Clara Frago presented her work in La Caixa. As it was expected, the exposition absolutely charmed the public. Now you still have a chance to delight yourself with her photographs from March 1st to April 15th in the Carlos III avenue in Pamplona.

          The Expositive Design of Juan Roldán Marzo

What story do we want to tell with these pictures and how can we do it? This exposition is an invite for you to observe, to discover hidden details and rejoice among them. This feeling of joy and relaxation can´t be achieved with stridency. The exhibition space of La Caixa does not admit an exhibit in color. Therefore, the pictures are displayed in black and wihite, also like a reminiscence of past times.

Another issue: Pictures can´t disturb workers and clients. The solution? Have them hanged in panels by a transparent thread that gives the effect of having the pictures floating in the air.

An additional element for the whimsical environment we want to create. This way, the observer will see doors that invite them to go in, stairs asking to be climbed, windows that work as threshold to a world of portals, peepholes and even more windows.

How was this arrangement decided? Through some trails in an A5 printing of the same images that would be presented in a bigger format.

       A GREAT JOB WITH A GREAT TEAM

For many months, Juan Roldán and Clara Frago have worked throughly, thoughtfully paying attention to every little detail. For  Patrimonio para Jóvenes it is such a delight to set up this exhibition. We give our sincere thanks to La Caixa for trusting in our association, Juan and Clara. We hope this becomes an opportunity for all the clients and people go pass by this area to be amazed by the details of the precious architectonic heritage of the First Expansion of Pamplona, this shy urban development before the demolition of the walls. Knowing about it, is the best way to preserve it.