The Blue Color of The Sky: 7! VILLANUEVA DE ALGAIDAS: OLIVE HORIZONS

Algaidas is a Villa Nueva (new village). Villanueva de Algaidas. Severed from Archidona, its independence and peculiarities acknowledged only in new times. Algaidas was the cradle of master Berrocal, Miguel Berrocal -a family name of twentieth-century sculpture around the world. Algaidas, a list of Arabic descent where you can see the echoes of thickets and bushes.

Villanueva de Algaidas, a settlement with ascetic, convent-like origins. Algaidas, surrounded by olives and more olives and more olives, bathed in the golden oil of which it`s the foremost producer in Mlaga Province. Villanueva de Algaidas, Algaidas, Villa Nueva.

Far in the Distance, Olives

The silent olives bury their shoots in the earth, giving rise to a woody ocean in silvery green. The rolling hills are wide of them; there`s no place where you can see the brilliant red earth, throbbing beneath your feet. Tractors and other farming machines plough their way on the roads and trails among swirling clouds of dust. Corn and olive storage facilities rise up like metal insects, like lunar bases resting on a green ocean. The air is fraught with the slightly sweet and strong sense of olive pressing -a precursor of a powerful oil-making industry, of refined olive oil and golden oily liquids. The dust hangs in the view and beyond, wrapping the ground in a surreal, oneiric blanket and evoking faraway dreams.

Location

Driving towards the town centre, I was met with a linear layout hiding a pair of winding streets. Up Mlaga Street and into Crdoba Street, where I parked. Villanueva de Algaidas and the neighbouring village Villanueva de Tapia lie on the edge of Mlaga, support to back with Crdoba. Parking where the two streets met was like having the provincial geography reproduced at a minor scale. I was soon faced with wide hallways and shady courtyards behind thick wooden doors. Winter must be harsh in this northeastern region of Mlaga. I could think the ice and the dew, the low temperature at morning and in the other morning, the comforting heat of the sun at noonday_ The stately homes featured two or three storeys at most, the 3rd floor serving as an attic or family granary in the past but now fallen into disuse. Windows and doors lay behind black wrought-iron bars. The houses projected their shadows over one another, so that I could remain in their shelter, protected from the inveterate sun in the brilliant blue sky.

Origins and Parish Church

Where other towns spread about a fortress, a tower, or a castle, the origins of modern Villanueva de Algaidas lie in a Franciscan convent. In fact, in the town centre, religious architecture boils down to a humble modern church. The old Franciscan convent "used to meet several population centres. With time, administrative organisation became necessary: a town hall was required to handle the pursuit of the scattered settlements in the country known as `la Rincon.` About 1km away from today`s town centre there was the burden of the first village, now known as `La Atalaya.` Other districts emerged in the areas where farming lands could be found. La Atalaya, La Rincon, Zamarra, Albaicn, and Parrilla are roughly of the districts that eventually made Villanueva de Algaidas, which had its own Town Hall in 1843, after its separation from Archidona" (source: Costa del Sol Tourist Board website). The Parish Church of Nuestra Seora de la Consolacin was built between 1904 and 1907. It boasts a simple faade in clean and ochre, ending in an austere belfry with one bell and reconstructed in the 20th century. It`s a single-nave church, built into the street as if it were only one more home. The vestry door belongs the old Franciscan convent. On the faade you can read, "Happy are those who combat for peace stemming from justice" and "Let your Word, My Lord, change my life." Despite its modest size, the parish church has an active spiritual life, as shown by the poster board announcing Masses and other events.

Miguel Berrocal, Sculptor

I was retracing my steps when I stumbled upon a man singing a copla in a delicate voice while leaning on his door. Some of the houses looked solemn, as if of some importance, maybe dating back to the 18th century. The wood blinds were unfolded, preventing the sun from advent in and so bringing some relief. I reached Plaza Miguel Berrocal, the heart center of Villanueva de Algaidas and a testimonial to one of the best sculptors from the twentieth century, whose work went considerably beyond the boundaries of his hometown to turn portion of the world`s art heritage. "Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, a.k.a. Miguel Berrocal in the art world, was innate in Villanueva de Algaidas, Mlaga Province, on September 28, 1933. In 1949 he affected to Madrid, where he accompanied the first row in the Train of Sciences and was admitted to the School of Architecture. But he left to see the School of Arts and Crafts and, later, the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts under the tutoring of ngel Ferrant. After acquiring a concession from the French government, he affected to Paris, where he met Giacometti, Crdenas, and Picasso in Cannes. In his first phase, under the work of Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Oteiza, Berrocal worked with wrought iron. In the sixties he began devising the "puzzle sculptures" that would make him a family name. These are small-sized pieces in noble materials. However, Berrocal was acquainted with new materials like Kevlar or carbon fibre, which he used in big sculptures. He also lived in Rome and Verona until he returned to Villanueva de Algaidas, where he died on June 1, 2006" (source: "Escultura Urbana" website. Also see the official site, www.berrocal.net for more info on the sculptor`s life and work, and a taste of his wide catalogue.).

The Convent and the Cave Chapels

Going back to where I`d left my car, I plunged into the origins of Villanueva de Algaidas. I went down Crdoba Street and turned left at a junction, following a sign reading "La Atalaya" (which could`ve been the master settlement). I plant the ruins of the Franciscan convent on the way. They were shut and fenced off, but yet I was capable to value the construction of the building. Besides, there was an information board telling the history of its source and construction. The ruins of the magnificent building only admit the nave of the church and division of the original structure that housed the Franciscan friars. Opened in 1566 by Pedro Tllez de Girn, Duke of Osuna, the convent became a religious reference in the area. Historical events led to its abandonment and the founder of office of it. A singular fact: the Franciscans in the convent lived off the sales of holm oak wood which they good near the hq of the Spanish Navy. Next to the ruins there was a ninth-century cave chapels, which sheltered a grouping of Mozarabs, i.e. resisting Christians under Arab rule. It`s in fact a series of small rock caves with a central nave and a barrel vault, plus small side rooms. The cave chapels are proof that the country was a major Christian settlement.

Farewell

Far from Villanueva de Algaidas`s brilliant past, I plunged into its gleaming present, when the silvery crowns of the olive trees are rocked by the strong air of summer. My car got lost in the bends of the twisty roads, well into the groves, becoming one with the red earth, the ashy green, the silver grey. For we are oil, too.

Travel Tips and Useful Links

Miguel Berrocal: For a deeper knowledge of the spirit and international career of the sculptor who rubbed shoulders with the greatest artists of the 20th century (he was in fact one of them), check the official site, www.berrocal.net. Berrocal chose to drop his final years in Villanueva de Algaidas, his homeland, leaving Verona behind to choose a last look at olives in his hometown.
Hiking: Adjoining the Franciscan convent, there`s the long-distance trail 7-E4 (GR-7). This long-distance trail connects Andorra with the Sound of Gibraltar. It`s marked with red and white signs, like all long-distance trails. In fact, it was the first train of this sort to be pronounced as such in Spain in 1974). The GR-7 is analogue to the Levante but far from the coast. It`s part of the European trail E-4 (Tarifa-Spain). After running across France and Andorra (also as GR-7 in both countries) it goes into Spain: Catalonia (La Farga de Moles), Valencia, Murcia, and Andalusia, where it reaches the southernmost point in continental Europe, Tarifa (near Algeciras). One day, the GR-92 will converge here.
Useful links: To determine more about Villanueva de Algaidas, visit the websites of Costa del Sol Tourist Board and Villanueva de Algaidas Town Hall.