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Walk through Pamplona

Posted on 31/01/2017

Some years ago, the Chicago Tribune published an article about the city of Pamplona. The article went beyond the traditional topic of Sanfermines and talked about another interesting places around the city. If you want to read the complete article, please click here

Having this article on mind, I am writing about the last morning we went for a walk around Pamplona. We may have not seen all the city since it took us just one hour, and we visited just some streets, but it was totally worth it, so follow us and take a look of what we saw.

We visited some buildings of an area of Pamplona called I Ensanche. The word Ensanche could be more or less translated to “expansion”, therefore, it was the first expansion of the city. Now you may ask yourself why are we talking about “expansion”? Well, because of the walls surrounding the city. Until the last century, Pamplona was a city completely surrounded by a stone fortress. Nowadays despite it still has some remaining walls, the city has grown out of those edges. So, back then, the city was completely different from what we can appreciate today.

The first expansion was the first area where wealthy people could build elegant houses made by the most important architects of the end of XIXth Century and beginnings of the XXth Century. A public building, the palace of justice, was built at the same time as well.

Regrettably, some of those houses were demolished and today we can´t enjoy watching all of them. However, around this area there are still some amazing examples of the detail-oriented and versatile styles that define the architecture of that time. For example, it’s impossible to avoid looking at the beautiful buildings by Manuel Martinez Urbago in Modernist style. The team was astonished by the beauty of the gantries and overwhelmed by the delicacy of every little piece that decorated the room. The details and harmony in those spaces suddenly let us delightfully experience an atmosphere from other times.

We also enjoyed watching at the only house of Pamplona that is built in neo-mudéjar style. In the case of this particular building, materials are essential, since bricks are not only for used construction, but also for the decoration of its facade. With contrasting colors, geometric shapes and a harmonic combination of the bricks with the rest of materials, this is a beautiful creation that effortlessly stands out from the surrounding houses.

In the end, we spent such a nice morning contemplating all the ornamental details, admiring the sinuous beauty of each façade, balcony or hall, reconstructing the ancient majesty of those houses in our minds, and chatting about the historicist and eclectic style in Spain, that the time passed so fast we didn´t notice.

Each of us also learnt a little more about the city of Pamplona. We realized that knowing well a city is not as easy as it sounds. It does not matter if it is a small city or even if we have been living there for several years, there are always secret spots or hidden treasures that need just a little of attention to be discovered and admired.

This morning walk was totally worth it. It was a morning for learning to look at the beauty of a city. Cities do not need to be enormous nor monumental to please our sight with lovely spaces. Each of them has a past that defines it, a need for beauty that decorates it and a will to become a nice place to live in that shapes it. With this walk along the secret beauties of Pamplona, we learned that each city possesses a charm, a history and a heritage that must be enjoyed, preserved and given to the next generations for their own delight.

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Good morning Vitoria!

Posted on 17/01/2017

There are cities in Spain with a kind of magnet for foreign people. A magnet generated by their fame, product of their world reputation and a great marketing strategy perhaps, that create on you the need to tell you have been there.

Nevertheless, there are amazing cities, secret treasures well worth to visit that don´t get the attention they truly deserve.

Vitoria is a nice, beautiful place that’s worth the time you need to walk around its streets. It counts with great promenades, an interesting old town, the great Basque cuisine to delight all tastes, two cathedrals (an old and a new one) and a great offer of public museums.

At the beginning of January, we went to the Fine Arts Museum of this lovely city and we had a morning full of fun, not only in the museum but along our way as well: the road to the museum is through a great park surrounded by beautiful houses with rich ornaments, like one known as “Casa de las Jaquecas“ which translates to “the House of Migraines” due to the body expression of the sculptures that decorate its facade.

Once in the Museum, we had the opportunity to appreciate its interesting permanent collection, with paintings by Dario de Regoyos, Antonio Maria de Lecuona, Zuloaga, Madrazo, among many others, and an area dedicated to Fernando Amarica.

What makes this place even more interesting, is that the museum itself, is a stunning building. “…A grand residence commissioned by husband and wife Ricardo Augustin and Elvira Zulueta, and designed by the architects Javier Luque and Julian Apraiz in 1912 and finished at 1916“as it’s explained on the Museum´s brochure. It is a sumptuous and elegant construction in a historicist style with many details to be appreciated. If you want to know more about the museum, click on this link

Our visit to the Museum this time was focused on the house and the historicist style. Everybody enjoyed exploring the rooms, contemplating the chapel and got stunned by the beauty of the fine joinery all around the rooms, on ceilings and floors, that can´t stop calling for your attention.

Then, in order to make our visit more dynamic, we formed groups of three or four people, each group had to select two paintings from all the collection and afterwards, explain to the other groups the reasons of their choice

After we were done with our visit, we went to eat some “pinchos” or “tapas” and later we visited the great new cathedral, an impressive example of Neo Gothic construction that just like the museum, emphasized the protagonist role of historicist architecture in this trip.

During this year, at Patrimonio para Jovenes, we will be talking again about historicist style, an architectonic style loved by some people, and very despised by others. Feel free to choose by yourself, but in the meantime, don’t forget to visit Vitoria!

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Again on the Way of St James

Posted on 15/11/2016

Before finishing the year 2016, we have two activities you can read about on the blog. And today, you have our visit to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, a charming village at the Region of La Rioja, on the Way of Saint James.

Santo Domingo is famous because it’s on the Camino, and for its markets, cultural events and of course the cathedral, Domingo the Saint, and the legend of Hen and Rooster Miracle . Click on the link and you can read more about it. In fact, in Spain we say “donde cantó la gallina después de asada” “where the roosters crow after being roasted”.

The Henhouse inside the Cathedral keep the attention of visitors and is fun for the children.

A stunning altarpiece

At the beginning of the trip we weren’t thinking of visiting all of the cathedral, but at least, the most interesting things. But the awesome altarpiece made by Damian Forment kept our attention most of the time. It doesn’t matter. It is a good excuse to come back only to visit the Romanesque capitals and presbytery.

In any case, I asked some questions to the boys in order to have them observe and come to conclusions by themselves.

Faces, bodies, characters, the way sculptures are painted, and all the story told on the alterpiece made us spend so much time just looking carefully at it.

What a pity the light!

The inside of the cathedral is not an easy place for photos. Here you have some nice ones, but perhaps next time Víctor has to use a tripod in order to have a good illumination all around.

Thanks to Father Merino

We thank Father Merino who helped during the visit. He also gave us the opportunity to visit the sacristy and some details of the sculptures of the doors. And then we had a very nice surprise: because Christmastime is not very far away, we had the opportunity to enjoy the Great Christmas Nativity scene, with hundreds of little sculptures, dressed on typical costumes, masters.

If you have the chance to visit Santo Domingo during Christmastime, definitely take it! And don’t miss the nativity display which is also great for children.

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Looking at an altarpiece through the fashion

Posted on 08/11/2016

The story of this post has its beginning on Internet. I’d known Consuelo Sanz de Bremond and her blog Indumentaria y vida cotidiana en España on Twitter and Facebook. Then we were emailing each other, and finally, I met her last summer in a village close to Madrid.

I wished the team of Patrimonio para jovenes could take a special visit to the stunning altarpiece of San Julian de Ororbia.

Ororbia is a village located just 15 minutes from Pamplona by car. And the altarpiece is one of the most interesting in Navarra. It was a pity that there was poor lighting which made picture taking difficult this time

The way we chose ( Consuelo and I ) to see the altarpiece was through the point of view of fashion – fashion at the beginning of the XVI century. The alterpiece of Ororbia offers great information not only about dresses but also about the way of life of the people from this time.

During the morning we visited the altarpiece at Ororbia. There, everybody had time not only to understand the artwork, but to take their own photos as well. This is very important. Taking photos, even if they are taken with the mobile phones, means that they offer a personal point of view about the art.

In the evening, we had an informal dinner and chat. Consuelo, with a Power Point presentation, talked to us in a very friendly way about fashion and showed us how the old times have their influence on fashion today.

To prepare this power point, Consuelo had the great help of Borja Centenera. This summer he went to take photos very carefully and with plenty of detail of the caps, hats, and shoes that Consuelo asked for.

We also had a workshop with fabric swatches. By touching silk, sheep wool, mohair, velvet and other swatches, the team could think and experience different textures and imagine their uses.

At the dinner, we were joined by the very nice people of Ororbia, that during these past months had helped us prepare this activity.

If you are coming to Pamplona, don’t forget visit this area. Orobia is close to the interesting church of Santa Maria of Gazolaz, and the Otazu Winery, an area with a great landscape, heritage and lots of fun.

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European Heritage Days in Genevilla, Navarra

Posted on 11/10/2016

At the end of May, when we visited Genevilla, I knew we had to come back. Its heritage, landscape and friendly people are well worth visiting again.

But I never imagined that the visit would come so soon.

A newspaper advertisement

I was reading a local newspaper when I came across news from the government of Navarra. They invited the city halls of the different villages of the region to participate at The European Heritage Days. One of the conditions was to present the program with a cultural association.

Patrimonio para jovenes had kept in touch with the people of Genevilla and offered our proposal: A workshop about the altarpiece of the parish. An awesome, stunning piece of art from Renaissance.

And the day arrives!

And the 1st of October, there we were. And we couldn’t believe how many people came. It was a joy. But we were certainly dealing with a challenge: to talk to such a big group with a range of age we are not used to.

Everybody was very interested and some of them looked carefully with bicoulars. So they appreciated the details from sculptures and how they were carved and polychromed.

The children

For children we prepared some big papers with the designs from the friezes of the altarpiece. Kids were looking at the altarpiece first and then they colored in the way they preferred. They had fun. By the way, thank you to the team that came as volunteers to take care of them.

And the party

After visiting the altarpiece, we had appetizers courtesy of the village council. It was a great time to talk, find old friends and make new ones.

Here is a picture with some of us. It was such a cute, nice, friendly morning at Genevilla.

And here you have the links to some websites that can be helpful if you want to visit this area :

http://www.turismo.navarra.es/eng/home/

http://www.turismotierraestella.com/

http://www.turismo.navarra.es/esp/organice-viaje/recurso/Localidad/2670/Viana.htm

http://www.alavaturismo.eus/index.php/es/

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Gallipienzo with friends

Posted on 04/10/2016

TRY ON GOOGLE

If you want to find information that is very new, specific , and so on, this website is not the right one for you. If you want to visit Gallipienzo , a stunning village in Navarra , here you have some interesting links, and the tourist office for a guided visit. And for more..try look for Gallipienzo on google and you’ll see how much information you can find.

THE ART AS AN EXPERIENCE FOR TEENAGERS

If you want to know about the experience of a team of teenagers who got to explore this place, you are on the right website.

This visit took place at the beginning of last June. During the summer I don’t write on the blog and given that we’ve had so many activities, I have not had much time for writing…but little by little, here we are!

THANKS TO THE HELP OF AN ARCHITECT

We arrived to Gallipienzo thanks to the help and advice from José Luis Franchez an architect who works on restoration and rehabilitation of historic buildings.

Such a big responsibility!

He talked about the history of Gallipienzo, why the people who were living there had to move and begin to live at “Gallipienzo Nuevo”- we were visiting Gallipienzo Viejo (Old Gallipienzo) . He even explained the criteria for restoration of a bulilding. If you are someone reading this in Europe, it is not such an unusual topic but perhaps it is if you are from States.

The history of Sapin and its heritage is tremendous. That means is very difficult and also so expensive to haver everything in good condition. So many times hard decisions must be made.

INSIDE OLD TIMES

José Luis talks in a very sweet way, as a person who is used to working with measure and proportion. He is so friendly that everybldy felt as if they had known José Luis for a long time. It was really funny when Victor, a boy of 16 years, dedicated his first novel to Mr. Franchez. Here you can see the photo

Guided by José Luis, we discovered the secrets of the church of San Salvador plus we got to experience the light, the silence and the magnitude of a medieval building.

At the end, “Patrimonio para jóvenes” gave a present to David and Victor. Now the two of them are in States and Canada. They received a book about the Gotic Art in Navarra

I hope they can read this post in America as they work as “ambassadors of Spain”

We finished the excursion eating a typical Spanish dessert, “torrijas” made of bread, egg, olive oil, sugar and ground cinnamon. It is such a pity that I don’t have any photo of this. Borja Centenera and Clara Frago the people in charge of photos and video, were eating with the other people. It’s not easy to eat and hold a camera at the same time!

If you come to Navarra , discover the little and hidden villages of this region!

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Arellano a charming village at Navarra

Posted on 06/09/2016

Here we are again! The academic year 2016/17 begins and the blog continues with this entry about our visit to Arellano, which is just a few kms. away from our last visit in Dicastillo.

Some years ago, we visited the Roman villa at Arellano, an archeological site located close to the village. And whatsmore…I remember getting into a small car accident right on the square of the village. Thank God, it was nothing very serious.

Almost by chance

It was during our visit to Dicastillo that we decided to continue to Arellano. There, we got to go into the medieval tower and enjoy the beautiful views of the landscape and the church of Arellano. The nice temperature and sun made everything easy.

If you go to Arellano, don’t forget visit this tower. It has free entrance and it was restored some years ago, so it is not dangerous to climb up to the top.

The Church of Saint Roman. What a colors!

Around the church there is a small, cute garden carefully watered with some nice grass and plants. It is nice to be there, just having a friendly chat on a summer evening. But even with this atmosphere, it is not possible to imagine the beauty that the interior of the church holds.

Alvaro de Goñi, a boy from the village opened the church for us and explained the stunning mural paintings.

On the presbytery, there are remains of medieval paintings from the 14th century.

All around the church we saw decorative paintings from the 16th century. There is also a frieze with the Magnificat prayer written and some decoration which you can also find at the Cathedral of Sigüenza, close to Madrid but far away from Navarra.

The painting altarpiece of Saint Cristobal

The amazing painting of Saint Cristobal really attracted attention because of its size and colors. It has the curiosity of some original iconographical additions ( found only in Arellano?) . For exemple the travellers, the eagles -two of them alighted one flying) the Virgin Mary and the two caravels on the top. Check out the painting and look for this details if yo visit the church.

The old organ is out of order nowadays but is a goosd instrument and it is just waiting for money to be restored

But another story was coming across!

At the end of teh visit, we were climbing again, this time up the bell tower of the church, again enjoying the views , and were able to see the tower from where we were peeping out a half an hour beforehand.

But, when looking at the bells, we discovered a lady’s name written on the yoke of a small bell. “In memory of Victoriana Arizaleta ” . So, who was Victoriana?

After some research by Marta Castaño and Alvaro de Goñi we will know and I will report it on a new post.

See you!

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Nicolás Alba, the craftsman

Posted on 03/05/2016

Patrimonio para jóvenes is a project focused on helping to discover the hideen places (in terms of art and cultural heritage) from young people, especially for foreign students. And today, her you have an expemple; Nicolas Alba’s workshop, in the midddle of the beautiful landscape of Valle de Yerri

To meet this craftsman, not this artist ( he defined himself as a craftsman) you have to leave the motorway and drive for small and charming roads . Go slow, only slow you came come across the creativity .

Nicolas works with iron, and the iron in his hands looks like silk, meaning softness and light. You can also find sculptures inside a box with labeled “Rain and Wind” . He also works as a scenographer, an indeed during the day of our visit Nicolas was very busy working on a new theatrical production.

His workshop is full of objects like masks, gloves, jars filled with small pieces of iron, and the sculptures big and small as well as bridges.

Built bridges, iron bridges, bridges are like a lifestyle , an attitude, a behavior. We all need to create ways of communications with others, discover means to avoid isolation, fear, unbridgeable steps.

Nicolas, a very shy man, is full of sensitivity and during our visit a new bridge was built, one of friendly conversation, empathy, and the joy of discovering this kind of spark and light inside the creative moment. That’s not forgetting that a “creative moment” only appears after the darkness of many hours of work which sometimes seem sterile , even sad .

The informal chat and questions from the team was great. Everybody was interested about how an idea arrives, what happens if people don’t like a new sculpture shown in an exhibition, or if someone understand it with a very different meaning or point of view from which it was created.

At the end of the visit we shared a very Spanish typical food: “Tortilla de patata” or spanish omelette. It was not a very long visit and not very far from Pamplona, but it was a deep experience of communication, creativity and friendship.

Please don’t forget to check out Nicolas’s website and the one of the Valle de Yerri. See you soon!

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When we forget about cultural and historical heritage

Posted on 19/01/2016

Perhaps one of the problems in Spain regarding cultural, artistic and historical heritage is its profusion. But… is it possible or positive to say that a country has too much history? Probably not.

The problem is how to manage all these things we have. How should it be restored? When and what? In Spain we have bridges, castles, walls… in danger of disappearing for ever. Why? Because there is not enough time, or money, or no way to do so…

On the other hand, you have beautiful places to enjoy, they seem as if they were made for a wonderful film… or tale; in fact, they are part of the tale of Spain’s History. Check out the web Spain is Culture …

But when a ruin, some interesting place has made it until today, the government gives aid in order to take care of that place but … nobody knows it?

Well, I can’t say “nobody”, but almost when talking about the “Despoblado de Rada”, the uninhabited place of Rada; a fortress just on the top of a cliff. The ruins are very well explained in a brochure that you are provided when buying the ticket, (2 euros, only 2 euros and only one if you are more than ten people). You can also enjoy the view of a beautiful landscape. You can imagine what life was like for people during the old times, there on the top. This visit is easy when you have nice weather. During our excursion we discussed how to better promote and communicate heritage, because culture doesn’t always imply expensive. Sometimes it seems like it doesn’t exist.

Close to this place, there is the charming hermitage of the Virgen del Soto. An example of popular and rural Baroque Art. This is not the most important example of this type art, but it is certainly intriguing and has great effect of theatricality.

Scenes from the Old an New Testament are represented on the top, with a beautiful dome. The sculpture of the Virgin Mary is very interesting. But what really attracted everybody’s attention was the representation of allegories such as Envy: a lady with snakes for hair, meaning that an envious person has terrible thoughts that harm all their relationships. The allegories of Peace and Devotion were also represented in contrast with vice.

Around this hermitage there is a nice park to enjoy especially in spring .

Visit Spain, join us , and… have a nice day!

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Heritage and oversight

Posted on 18/11/2015

Sorrounding the city of Pamplona (Navarra, Spain), there is a superb landscape, it is easy to arrive just for a walk during the morning or afternoon, places for relaxing, doing physical exercise , take photos and learn about art and heritage as well.

This is what we did some days ago, with a beautiful temperature even for being the middle of November.

With students and young professionals from Mexico, Dominican Republic, Iran, and the cities of Burgos and Pamplona, we visited the small and cute rural churches of San Vicente of Larumbe, St Esteban of Eusa, and St Mary of Gazólaz. All of them have in common that they have an atrium. And more, are classified as “BIC” “Bien de interés cultural” the highest protection for heritage in Spain

Cultural Look through the Romanesque or Gotic ( in the case of St Vicente) windows at the landscape give a magic sensation, as if you are in the right location for a film, or as if you are transported to another time.

The visit to the three churches was focused not only on the history of Art but also on a reflection about restoration and about some difficulties we have in countries such as Spain, with a huge range of artistic heritage.

Is it possible to restore everything? How can we know when and why it is necessary? And what about after their restoration? What kind of actions, in terms of marketing or education program should be put into practice in order to not forget these places?

We appreciated the beauty of the atrium of St Vicente just restored, in a great contrast with the interior of the church damage on its walls because of humidity.

The quaint, magical, and touching interior of San Esteban… or the interesting designs and representations at St Mary of Gazólaz.The inversion in restoration –We also visited some weeks ago the medieval bridge of Aoiz, another village of Navarra) is very welcoming, but then if nothing more is done, it is a waste of time and money and the oversight is one of the most dangerous elements for historical patrimony

So it was a day full of activities: Alvaro who travelled from Burgos took nice pictures, all of us enjoyed the places, the landscape and even we came across a little donkey! An animal not very easy to find at nowadays.

In the end, with the team from Burgos we went to El Gaucho with the most delicious pintxos in Pamplona. Cuisine is also an important part of cultural heritage!!!!