In praise of Villena

The first time we went to Villena was in 2006, a few days before Christmas. We were just about to leave when we bumped into a lot of carolers crossing the road. We followed them to a spot outside a chemist where they gave a little concert. It was lovely. I've had a bit of a soft spot for Villena ever since.

Sometime later, goodness knows when, we were by the Town Hall in Villena, next to the Iglesia Arciprestal de Santiago, the main church, just beside the Town Hall and Tourist Office. A woman came over and asked us if we were tourists. We were Brits and that was tourist enough for her. She took us in the church. She told us how the spiral columns were very uncommon in other churches. She told us how the patron saint of Villena and the church in Villena had been set on fire in the Spanish Civil War. When we'd done there she took us to see the Villena Treasure - 90 pieces of 3,000 year old solid gold objects, bowls, bracelets, necklaces and the like, weighing in at nine kilos. 

I thought I knew what there was in Villena. We've been there many times. We've done lots of fiestas and events and guided visits but I'd never heard of a museum, the Museo Escultor Navarro Santafé, until the other day. It's a small museum, very small and it costs a euro to get in. It's on the ground floor of the 19th Century house that once belonged to this Villena born sculptor. It's easy to find because the street is named after him, Navarro Santafé. The exhibition consists of various pieces that the artist brought back from his studio in Madrid: sculptures, parchments, writings, sketches, photographs. In his lifetime (he died in 1983 aged 77) he became relatively famous for his animal sculptures because they were a popular buy among hunters. The thing that surprised us about him though was that one of the most symbolic of all Madrid statues, the Bear and the Strawberry tree, the one in the Puerta del Sol, right in the middle of town, is his.

Oh, and he also did a new version of Nuestra Señora de las Virtudes, the patron saint of Villena. That's to replace the one that the tourist guide had told us about in the once burned out church.