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Castilla and Leon

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Soria and the Antonio Machado secondary school, part of our history

Posted on 07/02/2025

Sometimes you meet people with whom you hit it off right away. That’s exactly how our association and IES Antonio Machado (The Antonio Machado Secondary School) got together. We met online, chatted about AB AQUIS (our first documentary) and just kept in touch ever since. Here’s how our visits went:

Ab Aquis

Proyecto Vozmediano

Espacio Santa Clara

The wonderful students from IES Machado participated in the filming of ETERNO (our most recent documentary) as well as in the visit and conversation in Espacio Santa Clara. The girls even appear in the trailer of the documentary, which you can watch here.

We all asked ourselves some important questions like: Why do we reject places that we don’t know? How do we form prejudices? Through what channels and information do we form our thinking and opinion? What happens when we dare to approach realities that we don’t know? And what are the consequences of losing material and immaterial heritage without even being aware of this loss?

All these issues were discussed with the students present in the room.

De izqda a dcha: Pablo Beorlegui, Miguel Arguibide y Javier Martínez Romera durante el coloquio

As always, we are very grateful to the teachers who welcomed us in Soria and with whom we have already made friends.

A great opportunity for the young filmmakers: Pablo Beorlegui and Miguel Arguibide

Pablo and Miguel have been directors and scriptwriters of ETERNO. It was also a great opportunity for them to make themselves known and to experience being in front of a camera. They’re the ones who are always behind the camera, so it was great to see them in the spotlight for a change.

Pablo Beorlegui atendiendo a La8TV

The interview with them was shown on the local TV channel – La8CyL TV, and they were lucky enough to be filmed in the amazing and historic Aula Machado.

Miguel Arguibide entrevistado por La8 TV

They’d also been interviewed a few months ago in ‘Rehabilita con éxito’ in San Sebastián, which you can watch here.

These photographs really show the most important issue for Patrimonio para jóvenes, which is that the real protagonists of our activities are always the young people. We love promoting their talents, not ours. We want them to be the ones creating content,getting those ‘creative juices’ flowing and having a blast when discovering cultural heritage.

As you can imagine, we are often approached by people who would like us to organise a lecture for the youth, where the speaker could blow their own trumpet. But this is not the way we work. In Spanish we call this attitude “He venido a hablar de mi libro’’.

Well, it’s just the opposite, we give the floor to young people though we know that they will become aware of some things years later. However, we as our association’s board are not collecting merits or academic points. We love to share our passion for heritage through life experiences whenever we get the chance.

Alumnas que participaron en el rodaje de ETERNO haciéndose un selfie ante el cartel

We always try to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, and we’re true believers that freshness and spontaneity don’t have to be about frivolity.

And of course, just a bit of sightseeing in Soria

What a well-spent morning! After leaving the school building, we headed to the Diputación (local council office) to say hello to Silvia from the Film Commission. We just couldn’t resist a quick Romanesque stop, even if it was just for a photo… Here we are at the beautiful entrance of San Juan de Rabanera.

Pablo y Miguel con Pilar presidenta de Patrimonio para jóvenes en San Juan de Rabanera

Before catching the bus, and us going back to Pamplona and José Luis to Madrid (he is the one who took these cool pictures that you can see here), we went into magical places like the Círculo Amistad Numancia. It seems that time has stopped there. There are some rooms like in a movie.

Pablo Miguel y José Luis converdando con Javier Mtnez Romera

Salón

We had such a lovely chat with Javier Martínez Romera, and it was so interesting to meet David Ortega, who calls himself the ‘Grandson of Martín and Socorro, Adolfo and Alicia from Soria and Burgos in part’. He’s got loads of followers on social media because he’s so good at talking about the region of Castilla, especially Soria.

Tertulia mañanera en el Casino Numancia

We hope to come back as soon as possible. Thanks everyone!

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Museums that let us dream

Posted on 10/09/2018

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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Folklore and fashion

Posted on 11/09/2017

JUSTE BY CHANCE

It was during the last spring when I came across an article at the magazine “Nuestro Tiempo”. Two students (actually graduates) from the architecture school, were starting a little business of bag design.

I kept in touch with them and made them a proposal.

What about designing with cultural heritage as inspiration? A good start is the Renaissance architecture found in a very little and hidden village: Morón de Almazán. Inspiration can be found not only on the stones of its amazing square but on the typical costumes of its Museum.

FROM TRADITION TO INNOVATION

It was the goal. To create style and contemporary fashion but looking back to the origins in ancient dresses, ceremonies, music and festivals.

The girls from the BeiA firm would create new models of bags with this inspiration. First, they had to travel and visit the village and its museum, look at everything with care, time and even tenderness.

Beatriz and Ainhoa visited the museum guided by Rogelio Peña, the person in charge of this little but great museum. They had explanations about traditions, social classes and different ceremonies and roles.

Then they came back to Pamplona, and started designing

THE DATE ARRIVES

When summer is almost over, the day arrived. It was September 2nd.

Beatriz, Ainhoa and me were all excited. What was going on?

How many people would come? At the near village of Almazán there was a festival, with a “corrida de toros” included.

We had the doubt, perhaps nobody would come? After the hard work during the summer, what was going to happen?

And great! The museum was full of people. The old people from the village fell in love with their culture and their heritage, people from the city of Soria, (capital of the province) and more: people from Bilbao, Logroño and other surrounding cities. People who were traveling as tourist around this area.

Beatriz and Ainhoa presented the models and then we enjoyed a dinner with typical products from Navarra, the region from which Bea and Ainhoa come from

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Our gratitude to the team in charge of the Soria Museum, to the people in charge of the cultural area of the “Diputación of Soria”Yolanda Martínez and Milagros Tajahuerce the mayor of Moron de Almazan.

Before finishing this post I’d like to encourage you to visit the Museum of Moron de Almazan as well as the old Medinaceli. Check out the web (The one of the museum is not available for mobile phones).

See you .

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Charming and hidden sites of Segovia

Posted on 19/04/2016

Around the city of Madrid there are many other very interesting cities well worth visiting in terms of art and cultural heritage. Some of them are World Heritage sites such as the one we’ve just visited: Segovia.

They are not very big in terms of population and size, and as a result of being so close to Madrid, there are thousands of tourists, especially students and teenagers, that make a round trip in one day to Segovia (or Toledo, or Avila) in a rush. The aqueduct, cathedral and Alcázar form a kind of check-list. They are great and stunning places, but they are not all that there is to see. You can still discover more beauty, but never in a hurry.

Our visit was focused on industrial heritage, such as The Royal Mint of Segovia, which you can read more information about here

We had a great visit with a very friendly guide, José, and had a lot of fun reflecting not only about the history of the coins but about how the new museology helps the public understand the exhibition ( both the permanent or the temporary one ) . It is a great space and an interesting building with a great promenade by the side of Eresma river.

After leaving the Royal Mint you can walk close to the river and find the Carmelite friar house and the tomb of Saint John of the Cross, one of the most important saints and writers in the history of Spain.

Then to the La Fuencisla, where you can experience the majesty and superb atmosphere of baroque decorations

Continuing with industrial heritage, we visited Museo Zuloaga, an old church converted into a ceramic factory at the beginning of the XX century. The artist Daniel Zuloaga bought it and not only made it into a factory and office, but also a house. Here you can see the bathroom is decorated in a very original way, isn’t it?

The museum is not opened daily because there is not enough money to afford it. A pity. If only half of the people that arrive to Segovia weekly would like to visit it! But they don’t know it exists! What can we do to avoid forgetting our culture?

Regarding ceramic and Zuloaga, we had an informal talk about artists, (painters, writers ) from the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX. They are known as “Generation of 98.” The talk was around the charming fireplace you can see in this picture. It looks like scenery from a film , doesn’t it?

So if you want to visit Spain, definitely come, but please don’t run, walk!!! There are beautiful sites waiting for you !