Browsing Tag

restoration

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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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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!!!!