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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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EUROPEAN HERITAGE DAYS. JAVIER, NAVARRA, SPAIN

Posted on 11/10/2020

A very special European Heritage Days

By the end of June, in agreement with the city hall of Javier, we decided to let the 2020’s European Heritage Days start, with this year’s slogan “Education and Heritage”. Everything was new and uncertain, the confinement during spring had just ended, so we were facing summer with as much excitement as uncertainty there was. Said this, the best option was to design a safe yet versatile plan for the Heritage Days, that could easily adapt to whatever may the future bring. We had to do it, we had to do it for culture, for life, for giving work opportunities, even if they were small and according to our resources, but we had to get moving. So, the first thing we did was to connect our volunteers with the town of Javier, with its heritage and with its people as well.

Get to know each other, undertake, create

Once the program was projected with guided visits to the castle, summer concerts previous to the saved dates, talks about sailing during the times of Saint Francisco Javier, and the main course, the outing of the paintings of the Dance of the Death at the Chapel of Saint Christ of the Castle of Javier, we presented it to the town at an open session in the City Hall.

Visiting over and over again

One of the things that the volunteer have done, especially María and David Rodríguez, was to learn a lot about the castle. They were present during many days of guided visits, they got plenty of reading material and then they rehearsed those visits on their own.

The organizing team next to the city mayor and one of the town councilors.

Another one of the studied spaces was of course, the Chapel of Saint Christ, or the Christ of the Smile. A small, non-visitable space. Why is that? Mainly for two reasons, the first one – at least chronologically- to preserve the paintings of the dance of the death, which are very close to the human touch. The second and nowadays most important reason, is that this space that invites to meditation and observation, makes it impossible to keep safety distances. It’s a heavy reason due to its sanitary importance

Those curious reflections seen on the picture have a reason: that photograph is taken from a superior floor and through a glass wall from where all the Chapel and its paintings are visible

All the volunteers visited the chapel and learned about the iconography and peculiarities of these pictures in Javier

Creative Implication. Fundamental for Patrimonio para Jóvenes.

Besides learning, in our Association it is very important to create. We look for implication, creation, thinking for a better support and communication of heritage to new public spaces. We had a challenge in our hands: We have to preserve, but how can we spread something that’s closed to the public? There are many precedents and examples of this dilemma. Probably one of the best known in Spain is the case of the Altamira Caves.

With this idea on mind, with the help of the photographer María Cantero, and the architect Juan Roldán Marzo, we prepared an expositive design that would exteriorize the paintings of the Dance of the Death. It was fundamental that they could be seen closely, yet in open and safe spaces, and people could interact with them to have a better understanding of this iconography. Here are some pictures of the process.

On the left, Laura Guindano mayor of Javier, talking with photographer María Cantero

María Cantero during her photographic tasks

This wasn’t an easy job for María Cantero. The space is very tight and dark too. It took many hours in the chapel and overall, a lot of time focused on the edition and adjustment of the images.The result was extraordinary and that helped Juan Roldán on the creation of individual panels from which the skeletons could be removed. Before going through all the paintings, he presented in Javier a prototype created with the help of his friends from “Rótulos Diper”

Laura Guindano with Juan Roldan on August

Until the day arrived, the music…

We thought it was a good idea to create previous events to the European Heritage Days. A jazz concert in the terrace of a bar in a summer evening was something convenient, nice and relaxing. So we did that.

We called our friends form Pamplona Jazz, who had already been with us on February in ‘”In love with a museum ” Back then, we couldn´t suspect the circumstances that would bring us together again.

Nevertheless, the important thing was the reencounter with Iñaki, Luisa and Ramón, and how great their music sounded, leaving astonished to all of those who hadn’t listened them before.

Here are some pictures of that August evening.

They day finally came

We had walked a long road for months. Bonds were tightened, Knowledge grew, we enjoyed it fully, and September 25^th came and left as any other day, but leaving great memories behind.

That Friday we didn’t have the usual summer weather of past Heritage Days. It was cold, on Saturday it rained, but we felt the warmth of the Heritage, of the fruits of a thoughtful work done for a long time. That Friday 25^th we greeted members of the Institute of Naval History and Culture, Eduardo Bernal and José Cánovas. They talked about “Sailing in the times of Saint Francisco Javier” and the circumnavigation of Magallanes-Elcano”.

Cánovas. They talked about “Sailing in the times of Saint Francisco Javier” and the circumnavigation of Magallanes-Elcano”.

We filled our allowed capacity. Everybody helped out by having a seat and keeping a distance, and the hotel staff meticulously took care of the distribution of the room for the people’s safety. The next day, people arrived to enjoy the guided visits that María and David had rehearsed so much

An European Heritage Days that we will never forget

It was lovely to watch the support and affection they received from their firends. All of them came to Javier to discover the castle in a very special way. The public that day was heroic. Bad weather, rain and cold, and yet they were there

David Rodriguez during one of the visits

The groups of each guided visit, normally with a máximum of 20 people, were now reduced to 15. That meant we had to put extra work because the demand was bigger, but we delightfully complied.

I myself was in the porch of the building next door explaining the externalization of the Dance of the Death

María Odériz preparing everything before the public’s arrival

General view of the exhibition room with the paintings of the “Dance of the Death”

One of the essentials of this exhibition was, as I said above, interaction. To get people to enjoy and understand, and therefore, to leave with the feeling of discovering a new face of Javier, appreciating its heritage a little more. There were very fun moments and many people took pictures. Here are some of our volunteers.

In the afternoon we had scheduled a visit to the “molinaz”, ( The molino) the ruins of an ancient mill next to Javier. A walk by a gorgeous river, but unfortunately they day didn’t help us. Our volunteers went through the route and verified that there was too much mud and tangled roots that could end in a dangerous accident, specially four our elderly visitors.

We opted to listen to the talk at the City Hall, and it was great to listen to Enrique Galdeano. In a pleasant yet insightful way, he made us realize about many dilemmas that come up during art restoration, about our experiences facing ruins and the meaning of ancient buildings through time.

At last but not least, with Jorge Feito , Technical Manager Mining at Geoalcali a present and on-line talk about “Nurturing the earth”, because landscape is part of our heritage as well, and knowing how to take care of the field that surrounds us is very important.

The only thing left to say is that finally, for another year, we’ve peaked. Thank you all for coming, Thanks to the town of Javier for trusting Patrimonio para Jóvenes on the management of this European Heritage Days.

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In love with a museum

Posted on 17/03/2020

Our main goal: a young public

When we head to a museum and propose activities with teenagers or young people in general, their response is almost always filled with surprise. Young people? But they never want to come! And we say, yes. We are looking for those who don’t want to come. Some really want to though, but they feel a little ashamed of this due to peer pressure.

We want to ask, Why don’t they want to come?

Can we put the blame on the educational system? Is efficiency much more important than creativity and learning to look at art?

At this point, a very interesting book by Nuccio Ordine comes in handy: “ The use of the useless “L’utilità dell’inutile. Manifesto”

And after all the questions, we head right into action. Doing this in a way they can enjoy it, with the ideal language, time and so on.

Public within their fifties are loyal to the museums. Especially women. It doesn’t matter what exhibition is ongoing , what a conference is about, they’ll go. And it happens in big, well known museums such as the Prado Museum, as in smaller ones in tiny villages, just as the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum.

“ Feel the museum” was born

For more than a year, the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum was closed because of the installation of an elevator. Something absolutely needed in order to allow old people or people with disabilities to have access to the museum rooms.

With the occasion of the new opening , Camino Paredes, the person in charge of the museum, asked Patrimonio para jovenes for some proposals of activities here.

Talking about accessible museums we thought of “ Feel the museum”, with special focus on people with visual disabilities or straight blindness. It was about touching the objects represented in four paintings of the museum. Wood, porcelain, silk, jewelry, headdresses, fabrics… Even with perfumes that evoke the scenarios of the paintings, but let’s talk about perfumes later.

And , of course, the sense of hearing. First with the nice explanation by Iñaki Rifaterra and with the help of music. Flamenco for “ En la Dehesa” and “ Copla Andaluza ” and Jazz for “ Evening party “ and “ Ciro’s Club couple”. Camino liked the idea, so here we are now.

With the help of great professionals : Iñaki Rifaterra and Puy Portillo

I met Iñaki during a Christmas children’s workshop taught in Euskera. He works as a guide at the Gustavo de Maeztu Museum. His kindness, smile, and knowledge makes you trust him at first glance.

Puy Portillo is the person in charge of communication at the Museum. She had such a great ability when broadcasting the news about the event “ Feel the museum” on newspapers as well as in social networks.

The musicians

As professionals, they were very conscious about the public. Thinking about young people in the museum, they had to adapt their repertory to them. All of them, both with Jazz as with flamenco, played in harmony to the four paintings we were talking about.

What a pity, just because of space and security, jazz musicians are not in front of “ Evening party”. Look at this painting here

but in front of “ The couple of Vozmediano” another painting that has a great relation with our association, have a look here

Meanwhile, the perfumes

Music began at the same time we presented to essences Chanel n 5 and “Wonderwood “ ( perfumed water from sandalwood and cedar) with jazz.

Flower and amber fragrances introduced the Flamenco music.

The surprise : Gipsy young people from La Merced slum

If we can blame someone for spreading magic, art, and great feelings, it has to be these children. They sang and danced in such a way that someone broke into tears. Tears provoked by the emotion of art that causes more art.

Thanks to Ricardo Hernández and Sonia from GAzkaló for coming with us and making possible the visit of these children.

It took four months to prepare an event that lasted one hour and a half. Time well spent thinking, travelling, and introducing people, but everything is well worth it when you get a result such as the one you can see on the pictures here . If you want a deeper look, visit our social profiles and you can also enjoy some videos.

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Romanesque with another perspective

Posted on 12/03/2019

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.

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Dreamt architecture: The Expo

Posted on 18/03/2018

Because of Another Visit

In January 2017, we had a walk along the First Expansion of Pamplona. While preparing that activity, I read, observed and looked with a different view to this area of the town that can be misunderstood. Building created in the end of the XIXth century and the beginning of the XXth century get mixed, confused and almost hidden among taller, more modern and more impressive buildings. I found out details that I’d never seen before. And during the visit, all the people made the exact same comment: I had never seen this before. This topic awakened so much interest that it was a must to pull its thread..

Photography as a Way

We started everything to prepare a photography exposition that fulfilled two of the main goals of Patrimonio para Jóvenes. On one side, to spread awareness about art and cultural heritage. On the other hand, to promote the work of young professionals. On November we started the search of the appropriate place. It had to be big, easy to be seen by pedestrians and inside or at least, close enough to the First Expansion.

We proposed the setting of this exposition to many entities. In the end, the idea worked for La Caixa, so we started working

Working During Christmas

Since the first weeks of December, Clara Frago re-visited this houses that she had saved in pictures back in the day. Now, more calmly, by her own and focused only on her camera lens, trying to catch the spirit, almost magic of this buildings and its entrances. We´d like to thank to the Chamber of Commerce, the Residence of the Repairing Mothers and the Joaquín Maya School of Music for all the facilities they gave us for taking pictures of its interiors, ot from their Windows and terraces to take pictures from the heights.

At the beginning of January, Clara Frago presented her work in La Caixa. As it was expected, the exposition absolutely charmed the public. Now you still have a chance to delight yourself with her photographs from March 1st to April 15th in the Carlos III avenue in Pamplona.

The Expositive Design of Juan Roldán Marzo

What story do we want to tell with these pictures and how can we do it? This exposition is an invite for you to observe, to discover hidden details and rejoice among them. This feeling of joy and relaxation can´t be achieved with stridency. The exhibition space of La Caixa does not admit an exhibit in color. Therefore, the pictures are displayed in black and wihite, also like a reminiscence of past times.

Another issue: Pictures can´t disturb workers and clients. The solution? Have them hanged in panels by a transparent thread that gives the effect of having the pictures floating in the air.

An additional element for the whimsical environment we want to create. This way, the observer will see doors that invite them to go in, stairs asking to be climbed, windows that work as threshold to a world of portals, peepholes and even more windows.

How was this arrangement decided? Through some trails in an A5 printing of the same images that would be presented in a bigger format.

A GREAT JOB WITH A GREAT TEAM

For many months, Juan Roldán and Clara Frago have worked throughly, thoughtfully paying attention to every little detail. For Patrimonio para Jóvenes it is such a delight to set up this exhibition. We give our sincere thanks to La Caixa for trusting in our association, Juan and Clara. We hope this becomes an opportunity for all the clients and people go pass by this area to be amazed by the details of the precious architectonic heritage of the First Expansion of Pamplona, this shy urban development before the demolition of the walls. Knowing about it, is the best way to preserve it.

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The Burgo of San Cernin seen from the sky

Posted on 25/04/2017

A special walk

Discovering the old town of Pamplona can be done in one day, one morning, even in just one hour. Everything depends on the amount of time and interest you may have. It is very possible that anyone who discovers the city and walks up the Curia street, when arriving to the White Horse, stays a long, very long time there, especially if the weather helps. Enjoy the views and the Mesón, open to Pamploneses as well as to outsiders. You can check the website of the inn here.

It’s fair to say that the boroughs of Pamplona/Iruña well deserve a close visit. To know more about this topic, click here and take a look, there is even a bar called the burgos of Iruña. This is your web to go.

We dedicated one morning to the Burgo de San Cernin. And we did it in a special way, gazing at it from the heights.

A rooftop at Ansoleaga Street

A friend of mine told me that the views from her rooftop were beautiful, and I didn’t think about it twice. I asked her to let me in with the kids in order to see San Saturnino from an unusual perspective. From there St. Cernin, as this church is also known, majestically imposed above the city.

Contemplating face to face the roofs of the building of the current library of the Plaza de San Francisco was another gift of that morning. It was once the building of “The Agricultural” as an initiative of the Banking and Insurance Society of the same name.

Afterwards, we admired the Grand Hotel, an imposing building, with history, a public library where we entered today and possibly left without asking about the origin of the property.

Seeing the beautiful courtyard of the Chamber of Comptos from the heights was also a huge delight. A privileged venue to look at this place and briefly review the history of the building.

A book by Fermín Erbiti

“The Chamber of Comptos. Stories Of The Oldest House In Pamplona And Its Surroundings” is a magnificent book. With 163 pages and many photographs, it narrates in a pleasant way the interesting trajectory of the building of the Chamber of Comptos, the institution as such, and many anecdotes of the whole environment. That book served as a guide to make this visit. I recommend everyone to read this. The multiple and varied uses of the oldest civil building in Pamplona, a disappeared palace that used to be where we now see the backs of the Hotel Maisonnave, include the history of a chacolí, the seat of the Pamplona orfeón and many more curiosities can be read in this entertaining and well-documented work of Erbiti.

The church of San Cernin

Also known as the church of San Saturnino in Pamplona. This visit was also very peculiar. Above all, it consisted of comparing the Gothic church with the Barroque chapel. What did you notice? Did you observe differences between one space and another?

What does each one suggest to you? It was a way of approaching the Gothic and the Barroque from an experience and a personal observation. In general, everyone preferred the Gothic style.

An opportunity for photography

It was a great day for Borja Centenera. He was able to take advantage and get into those nooks only suitable for photographers. All the images he captured are beautiful and mesmerizing. Another opportunity to experience in photography, to be amazed while exploring spaces.

Finish on the cover

After visiting the church, we took advantage of the end of our visit, with less people in the street to appreciate the cover in detail. All of them noticed something they had not noticed other times: the remains of polychrome on the stone figures. It invites us to imagine how color must have been in so many medieval temples.

We finished the morning, recovering strength enjoying a few pintxos. Content and certainly surprised by everything that a city tells us about itself. And from now on we have a commitment: to listen, to observe and walk slowly through its streets without assuming that we already know everything.

There can always be surprises. Always. I invite you to walk slowly around Pamplona and each and every one of the cities in which you live and from where you read me. Happy day.

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Historicism in Burgos/ another view of Burgos

Posted on 07/03/2017

When visiting Burgos, it is quite normal to visit the most important places of the city, as the cathedral, the old town, the monastery of “Las Huelgas” and even “La Cartuja”. In fact, the artistic heritage of the city and its beautiful surroundings are so stunning that is not easy to have time for more. Even for some people living in Burgos, some part of the heritage could be underestimated. Or at the very least not well known.

Paseo de la Isla and its sorroundings

This is something I experienced when walking with the team around the “Paseo de la Isla” and its surroundings, an area of the city with great examples of Historicism. Moreover; there is a very interesting example of neo renaissance architecture by architects Apraiz and Luque. We talked about them at the beginning of the year, in Vitoria. If you want to read more about our visit to the Augustin Zulueta residence and Vitoria´s Neo gothic cathedral, click here

Enrique Jerez and Arturo González

Enrique Jerez in Burgos had a surprise for us. Before our visit, he had asked Arturo González to join us. Arturo is one of the architects in charge of the rehabilitation of the episcopal palace. He explained to us what they did in order to find a totally new and functional use of the building. All, without losing the essential style given by Apraiz and Luque at the beginning of XXth century

Stairs and stained glass windows

We could compare the entrance and stairs of the episcopal palace in Burgos with the one we visited in Vitoria. Which one do you like the most? The one made of marble in Burgos or the wooden one from Vitoria? Why? What kind of atmospheres are created by such different materials?

While in Burgos, we also saw stained glass windows located in the right in the middle of the principal stairs, just like the ones we saw in Vitoria. In fact, the stained glass came from the same craftsman workshop: Maumejean, one of the most important workshops in France and even in Spain during those years.

Due to our very well explained visit to the palace with Arturo, we didn´t have a lot of time to see more buildings. So, we will have to come back in spring! With good weather and in broad daylight, I am sure we will enjoy places such as the palace of the island, the one you can see on the following picture;

We also visited “Las Salesas” a convent close to the building we visited before. Las salesas is a great example of Neo-gothic in Burgos. Built by Lamperez, it is an example of the power that Gothic aesthetic has always influenced Burgos. In fact, remember the Cathedral: Its gothic style is a symbol and icon, a legend, something that becomes a milestone. I posted some pictures on Facebook, and you can check out its website.

Las Salesas also counts with beautiful stained glasses, remembering the ones from the middle age despite being made nowadays. Well, one hundred years ago… but not centuries ago…

For the next walk we will also see the Capitanía General, another example of Neo Gothic style, only this time it is not a religious building but a civil one.

Afterwards, the team had a pic-nic at the little village of Vivar del Cid. There they visited the mural painting that Patrimonio para Jóvenes sponsored some years ago. The painting was explained by one of the artists, Sergio Rodrigo Andrade.

Well, it was a great visit. But we left very nice places outstanding… Until the next time!!!

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At the batán of Villava

Posted on 21/02/2017

Today I have the pleasure to invite you to follow us in a very simple, but nice visit to the Batan of Villava. A visit that is linked to the ethnography , brotherhood, ancient jobs and economy development tha occurred in towns close to rivers.

A batan was a machine used in other times that worked with the power of water and was used to beat textiles and prepare them for different uses. The evidence of the ancient use of this machine is its mention and protagonism in one of the famous adventures of Don Qujote de la Mancha.

Villava is a nice village that is just a ten-minute drive away from Pamplona. You can also go walking and enjoy the beauty of the river park of Pamplona. Click here for further information

Landscapes, history, World heritage sites, and industrial heritage, all together in just one morning. Right next to the Batan (the building which has inside the machine has the same name: batán) is the Arre bridge , crossed by all the pilgrims coming from Zubiri and hading to Santiago, and the old Romanic apse from the church of Trinidad of Arre.

The Batán has more things to show. We saw with Ekaitz the map of the waterway around Pamplona, and we learned the history of the batan, how it worked, and indeed how it works today. Ekaitz set in motion for us the machine . We had information about the people who worked there, and watched a video about the history of Pamplona and its relation with rivers and water.

Another important point of this visit was to understand how important are rivers and water for habitability and civilization. Romans who founded Pompaelo, shepherds, timber merchants, pilgrims… a great history of people, masters, and culture around the river

If you are in Pamplona or nearby, you can go there, the visit is free and is held in Spanish or Euskera, however, you can also visit it by yourself. Not far away is the San Andrés mill, another nice place to see. In summer you can also enjoy an open air cafetería, right in the middle of the nature and on the Way of Saint James.

Either in winter or in summer, we can always go around and know more about our heritage. The big one, the small one, but always our heritage.

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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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