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Burgos

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FASHION ON THE RETROCHOIR

Have you ever been at the Burgos Cathedral? It is a great monument, with an “unmistakable profile” (as it’s said on Wikipedia) that is well worth visiting. It is so big, so majestic, and so outstanding, that you can easily get overwhelmed by so much beauty. In consequence, you can take for granted a lot of important details.

An example of these overseen jewels is the retrochoir, right in front of the wonderful chapel of Condestables. It’s a shame that people don’t spend enough time there to pay attention to this masterpiece of sculpture. If you want more information about the artist and his work go here

Consuelo Sanz de Bremond LLoret, a specialist on antique clothing was the one who proposed talking about fashion on the retrochoir. Specifically, hat fashion. In fact, most of the characters seen here are wearing hats with such charm and delicacy that they can easily inspire fashion nowadays.

This observation let us organize the creativity practice we proposed to the pupils at the Art and Design School in Burgos: To create new models of hats for today based on those we can see at the retrochoir . And we hope they make it!

With this event, we wanted to introduce in an official way Patrimonio para Jóvenes at the city of Burgos. Even if we displayed some activities before, we have never had a formal introduction.

During the days before, and even the very day of this event, it was broadcasted on newspapers, radio and TV. Check out if you want here (go to 17,30 program time)

On behalf of the team of Patrimonio para Jóvenes, I want to thank Consuelo for joining us at Burgos and for her dedication of more than three months to study carefully each model on each head of the characters.

After the talk, everybody has learnt how to look at a retrochoir with a new point of view. First the superb scene of the life of Christ : The road to the Calvary, and more scenes from the passion. And more important, we discovered how carefully Felipe Vigarny described each person at the story by drawing amazing faces, amazing clothes and charming and sometimes exotic hats.

Welcome to the Cathedral of Burgos and get ready to take off your hat!

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Historicism in Burgos/ another view of Burgos

When visiting Burgos, it is quite normal to visit the most important places of the city, as the cathedral, the old town, the monastery of “Las Huelgas” and even “La Cartuja”. In fact, the artistic heritage of the city and its beautiful surroundings are so stunning that is not easy to have time for more. Even for some people living in Burgos, some part of the heritage could be underestimated. Or at the very least not well known.

                             Paseo de la Isla and its sorroundings

           This is something I experienced when walking with the team around the “Paseo de la Isla” and its surroundings, an area of the city with great examples of Historicism. Moreover; there is a very interesting example of neo renaissance architecture by architects Apraiz and Luque. We talked about them at the beginning of the year, in Vitoria. If you want to read more about our visit to the Augustin Zulueta residence and Vitoria´s Neo gothic cathedral, click here

                               Enrique Jerez and Arturo González

Enrique Jerez in Burgos had a surprise for us. Before our visit, he had asked Arturo González to join us. Arturo is one of the architects in charge of the rehabilitation of the episcopal palace. He explained to us what they did in order to find a totally new and functional use of the building. All, without losing the essential style given by Apraiz and Luque at the beginning of XXth century

                               Stairs and stained glass windows

We could compare the entrance and stairs of the episcopal palace in Burgos with the one we visited in Vitoria. Which one do you like the most? The one made of marble in Burgos or the wooden one from Vitoria? Why? What kind of atmospheres are created by such different materials?

           While in Burgos, we also saw stained glass windows located in the right in the middle of the principal stairs, just like the ones we saw in Vitoria. In fact, the stained glass came from the same craftsman workshop: Maumejean, one of the most important workshops in France and even in Spain during those years.

Due to our very well explained visit to the palace with Arturo, we didn´t have a lot of time to see more buildings. So, we will have to come back in spring! With good weather and in broad daylight, I am sure we will enjoy places such as the palace of the island, the one you can see on the following picture;

We also visited “Las Salesas” a convent close to the building we visited before. Las salesas is a great example of Neo-gothic in Burgos. Built by Lamperez, it is an example of the power that Gothic aesthetic has always influenced Burgos. In fact, remember the Cathedral: Its gothic style is a symbol and icon, a legend, something that becomes a milestone. I posted some pictures on Facebook, and you can check out its website.

Las Salesas also counts with beautiful stained glasses, remembering the ones from the middle age despite being made nowadays. Well, one hundred years ago… but not centuries ago…

            For the next walk we will also see the Capitanía General, another example of Neo Gothic style, only this time it is not a religious building but a civil one.

Afterwards, the team had a pic-nic at the little village of Vivar del Cid. There they visited the mural painting that Patrimonio para Jóvenes sponsored some years ago. The painting was explained by one of the artists, Sergio Rodrigo Andrade.

Well, it was a great visit. But we left very nice places outstanding… Until the next time!!!