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innovation in Spain

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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.