BRINGING THE HERITAGE CLOSER. ESTELLA, ART AND THE ROAD

August 26, 2009

Estella's movable heritage
Ms. Mercedes Jover Hernando. Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro.

Within the topic Acercar el Patrimonio. Estella, Art and Camino, the speaker reflected on a set of objects that were created from artistic parameters and without which Estella would not be a landmark on the Camino de Santiago.

When you think of Estella, you think of it from the monumental point of view. And you can admire and enjoy this wonderful city by simply walking through its medieval streets. But if we stop to think about the why and wherefore of many of these monuments, we will realize that they were created as spaces for the development of worship, as containers of the most sacred, the relics. We cannot forget that without the relic of the Hispanic relics, without the remains of the apostle St. James there would be no Jacobean Route and that the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela was erected to guard the holy remains and to celebrate the cult over them. 

For the development of the cult, objects are indispensable, which we have come to call movable goods, that is to say, movable, transportable. Often before the grandiose evidence of the monument, we forget to value the presence of those elements without which it would not make sense, because they are essential for the development of its functions. The movable goods of Estella help to narrate the history of this focus of art and spirituality, because they speak of the devotions of Estella, of its liturgical uses and customs, of its moments of splendor and of its times of shortages. They also reflect the changes that the city has undergone in many areas.

With the financial aid of historical photography, Dr. Jover made a virtual tour through the movable heritage of this city, showing the changes that have lived the interiors that contain or contained them, given its mobility, and contemplating characteristic aspects of these goods, such as their fragility, which causes them to suffer deterioration, changes and even disappearance, among whose causes is the fact of having become an object of the art and antiques market. 

Finally, he analyzed their heritage evaluation throughout the twentieth century, which has made them assets to be protected and disseminated.
 

Gothic ark where the Virgin of Le Puy is kept