The book, published by the Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro, with the sponsorship of the Government of Navarre, is devoted to the nativity scenes existing in Navarre in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. What it contains is a foretaste of a compilation of materials that has only just begun, as the task is long and difficult to complete. The depopulation of the countryside and the withdrawal of so many rural houses has resulted in the permanent loss of numerous nativity scenes, just as happened in the 19th century with the secularisation of religious orders. The figures and sets of nativity scenes included in this book are related to the symbolic Hispanic nativity scene and, therefore, have little to do with a world of dioramas, proportions and supposed historicism, characteristic of the great majority of present-day nativity scenes. 

Navarre was no stranger to the spread of nativity scenes in Europe and other Spanish regions from the 17th century onwards. The nobility and, particularly, some religious institutions took great pains to possess outstanding sets, some of which have been preserved and today constitute a magnificent reference point for the art of nativity scenes in the centuries of the Ancien Régime. 

The first three-dimensional nativity scenes in Navarre were those of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of San José in Pamplona, in the first third of the 17th century, and that of the Jesuits in the same city, in the middle of that century. The best example of those preserved is the monumental nativity scene of the Augustinian Recollect Nuns of the capital of Navarre, which attracted great attention on the occasion of the inauguration procession of the chapel of the Virgen del Camino, in 1776, when it was publicly exhibited, being described by a contemporary chronicler as "very special, with very strange and perfect animals, which caused admiration...". 

There are some outstanding works from the 18th century, especially in display cases or shop windows, as well as a set in polychrome wood made by the sculptor Juan José Bélaz in 1825 for the parish of Mendigorría. A special mention should be made of all the Murcian "barros" that were imported in the 19th century, when the nativity scene became popular in the homes of towns and cities.

The history of the nativity scene in Navarre forms part of a set of traditions surrounding Christmas, which must be correctly interpreted as manifestations of the spiritual and cultural personality of a people, immersing oneself in the soul of a human group and attempting to rediscover a little of its identity, historically defined through multiple aspects in which its culture is embodied. Precisely for this reason, some nativity scenes constitute true cultural assets and can be specifically suitable as a condenser of these values, due to their material and singular presence, since, in contrast to the incorporeal nature of some cultural elements, the scenography of a traditional and popular nativity scene constitutes a physically concrete object, with a high symbolic value, which assumes and summarises the essential character of the culture to which it belongs.

Letizia Arbeteta Mira

It is always a pleasure - and an honour - to preface a book. Certainly, it is commonplace to talk about it, but in this case, it is essential to say so, because rarely do we have the good fortune to preface a book like this one, entertaining, charming, of the utmost excellence for its author and content.

Ricardo Fernández Gracia, systematic in his research, with a quick eye and mind, always gets to the bottom of things, always places the reader in front of lost scenarios which, like a nineteenth-century Egyptologist, he brings back to life in all their splendour and colour. Colourful, yes, because the scientific research can bring colour and beauty, it can be fascinating and moving, it can make the reader vibrate and bring different feelings, while stimulating reasoning and logic. The topic of nativity scenes is very conducive to this, it is a topic close to the heart, it always has been, since the times of baroque piety, which is so accurately explored in this book, and it seduces wills to the point that the author himself has become personally involved in it, as an improvised anthropologist, a notary of customs and traditions in the scattered monasteries of his native Navarre, as well as collecting hundreds of scattered figurines, rescued from attics and antique dealers, to make up an astonishing collection, limited exclusively to the Navarrese environment, which demonstrates, better than any colouring book, the importance that the Catholic custom of the nativity scene had in his homeland.

But all this would be of no use without the documentary contribution, the gala of its texts or the news collected and the systematisation of a series of iconographic phenomena linked to the origin of the nativity scene, popularised in several areas of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 16th century, when it was already more than two hundred years since its presence in ecclesiastical institutions.

On the other hand, what we have seen, in your pleasant company, of the nativity scenes in Navarre, seems, at first sight, to solve some enigmas and fills in some gaps in the general research already undertaken.

The intensity of the religious convictions of the Navarrese people in the 19th century, together with their economic availability , made it possible to find in these lands the best of Murcian production, now lost after the destruction of much of the historical heritage in central and northern Spain. We can also trace the footsteps of the Provençal santibelli sellers and a certain French influence in certain antique nativity scenes, especially those from the end of the 17th century and some 18th century shop windows, so similar to those made at the time of the last Luises.

The core of the custom, however, is not foreign, but home-grown, and is based on ancient traditions, lovingly maintained in the monasteries, traditions that were part of a cycle of spiritual experiences based on the liturgical seasons, with devotion to the infant Jesus at its centre.

Fernandez Gracia takes a great deal of time to analyse specific examples, some of them singular, especially the great cabinet-belen of the Augustinian Recollect Nuns of Pamplona, a delight for the public at the exhibition "Oro, incienso y mirra", held in Madrid in 2001. This nativity scene is part of the map of monumental Baroque nativity scenes of the different monastic orders and is in itself a reference point for the vision of its creators, as well as an ancient testimony to the vitality of the phenomenon under study.
Artistic, documentary and anthropological aspects, nothing escapes the author's astute gaze, who provides us with a complete panorama of the material testimonies of the nativity scene, without forgetting the immaterial heritage that surrounds it and gives it meaning.