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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.

Blog

Don’t tell me what you see, but what you feel

Posted on 01/03/2016

Today, we’re traveling to a city close to Navarra, Logroño, (La Rioja ) notice, with ñ, a Spanish letter you don’t have in English and sounds like “nya”. Logroño is well worth the visit. In some streets you can enjoy the cute Museum of La Rioja, The Cathedral, and the cultural center, Amos Salvador, once a cigar factory. And more, in this area of the city you can try delicious “tapas” or “pinchos” with the wine for which this region and its wineries is famous all over the world.

Some time ago, people who work in the Educational department of The Art Institute of Chicago provided me with some very useful material: “Tips for Leading Discussions About Art” and with it, I prepared this activity at the Museum of La Rioja.

After giving students time to loo, I asked about their feelings in front of a painting, not to describe what they see. We did this with two different Spanish paintings. “Divine Light”, an oil on canvas by Lorenzo Aguirre Sánchez. And “The Toilette” by Federico Godoy.

At this point I have to say is very difficult for young people to express themselves , they have a kind of fear of ridicule.

Looking at “Divine Light”, the oldest in the group gave the first answer. “It gives me a sensation of sadness, of prayer, of loneliness, reflection…” they say. In the end everybody talked.

“Why do you have this feeling?”

“Because of the colour, the disposition of characters, the room itself.”

Some of them say this painting reminded them some paintings of Edward Hopper

Then we looked at Federico Godoy’s “The Toilette” a scene of beauty and joy inside a popular house.

What some people said here is that they feel more peaceful because of the colours, and because the characters are inside their own houses, in their spaces and yards where they live everyday, not in hospitals, orphanages, or jails.

We also visited the medieval rooms where the restorer Teresa Calvo answered questions from the team about problems with wood sculpture. Some of the boys who were biology students asked about the problem of fungi and woodworms

Then we had free time for watching videos in the areas they were most interested.

After that, we visited the “Dali Sueña los caprichos de Goya” exhibit, which means: “Dali’s Dreams About Whims of Goya” about great artists in Spain, with Goya as a precursor of contemporary art.

Here you have the link of this, though it is only available in Spanish.

It was about 13.00 a good time for tapas in Spain. We were all having so much fun that we forgot to take pictures of the team enjoying the food. But in any case here are some picture of the tapas. Remember Calle del Laurel and streets around it if you come to Logroño!

And to end the amazing day, we visited the old castle of Clavijo, even though there are only ruins, they are as incredible as the landscape you can see from the top.

This was a great excursion you can try if you come to La Rioja.

Welcome to Spain and thanks for following Patrimonio Para Jóvenes.