Ah Spain!

AI generated, please excuse any errors!

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[Music]
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Hola, welcome to Poor Poco.
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Hola Tanya Kau.
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What are we going to talk about today?
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Well, today we're going to talk about
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Iglacsia de San Nicholas Dear San Pedro
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Ber.
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That's a very long name for a church.
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Yeah, I think the the church of St.
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Nicholas of Bari and and St. Peter the
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Martyr. That's what I'm going to
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translate that to
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basically. Yes. which is a gorgeous,
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gorgeous, overly gorgeous in some ways
0:32
um church in the middle of Valencia, in
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the middle of the old town.
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It is It is a bit flashy. I I would say
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I think Liberace visited it once and
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said, "We can tone this down a little
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bit."
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Yeah, that's kind of what it feels like.
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I was not prepared. I will say when I
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went I was like, "Oh, this looks like a
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fun thing. Let's go inside." And then I
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was like, "Oh, wow."
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Right. And and it's it's um they they
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called it the Cyine Chapel of Valencia.
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and and for due reason. I mean, the
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thing is covered from inch to inch with
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um covered in paintings, fresco,
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bejeweled. I mean, the thing is insane
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and and the building itself, I mean, so
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we can jump in. I guess it is a it is an
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example of the coexistence of the
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building with a Gothic structure from
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the 15th century and then as you just
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mentioned the spectacular bar um
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decoration and like just beautiful
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artwork of the 17th century. So right
1:27
insane and I will say this has happened
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in other churches that they took these
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austere gothic churches in in many
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places during the Baroque movement and
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then some rich benefactors came in and
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to some churches and said I need this to
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be a little bit more fabulous as you
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said
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and it is it is fabulous. Um so in and
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in 1981 it became a national historic
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and um artistic monument and it was
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restored in 2016. We'll get into a
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little bit of that a bit later. Um, but
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it's also a museum. So, it is a working
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Catholic church as well as being a
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museum. So, when you go visit, it is €15
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to go visit.
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It is. It It's gone up. Last year, we
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visited or Yeah. about a year and a half
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ago. I think we paid nine to get in and
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I paid nine when I went. Yeah.
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And I will say we had a friend in I we
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had a a dear friend in town and we went
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this weekend and it was 15. So, I can
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confirm that it is now 15.
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Yeah. And I mean, it's a it's it is
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spectacular. I'm sure there's a lot of
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reasons that that needed to go up in
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price. And I think a lot of that is just
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the amount of people coming in, it maybe
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dwindles it a little bit maybe.
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Right.
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And I would like to add though too when
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people visited that you can't you can
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miss it because it's not a church that
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you would see from the street. Like
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there is ways to see the church like
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down an alleyway. It's like the sides in
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the back are bare to the streets, but
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the front where you entrance, it's just
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like shops and restaurants. It's just a
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little doorway, right? You don't notice.
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It's a very cute It's probably like one
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of my favorite streets. Like you walk
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down the street and you got alleyways
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with restaurants with seating outside
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and it's a cute very like we said like
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the old part of town. So you may be
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coming from the market or some other
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church that you visited and then you
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come down and you could absolutely walk
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by it.
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Absolutely. Totally. Yeah. It's just a
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there's a little sort of entry area and
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a and a door.
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Right. Right. I would say Google map it
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and follow your little dog because you
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can easily walk right past it for sure.
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Yeah. And that was one of the reasons
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for me why when we when we went through
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the door and we ended up in this church,
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I was like not expecting this experience
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at all. Um so the history the history of
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the of the church. Do you want to start?
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Yeah. So originally that site there was
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a mosque there because you know and I
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think we've talked about this before and
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we'll talk about it again that the the
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the Muslim Islamic there was an Islamic
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caliphate throughout southern Spain and
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eastern Spain and so there was a mosque
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there on the on the site and then during
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the reconquest of Spain or the
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reconquest of Valencia by King Haimey
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the 1 of Aragon um I think that happened
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in October of 1238 something like that
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October 9th specifically because that's
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a big day here. We even have a hospital
4:15
named October night. So the October 9th
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is a is a big day for Valencia. But
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yeah, 1238
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that is the that's Valencia day for
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sure.
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And that was and that was when it was
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dedicated after when when that all
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happened. Then it was dedicated um to
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St. Nicholas of Bari and it was one of
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the first 12 Christian parishes in
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Valencia. So it was a very very early um
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church that was dedicated here in
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Valencia. And then years later they
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built u an altar to the first martyr of
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the Dominicans, the St. Peter the
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Martyr, which I mentioned that name
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earlier.
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Yep.
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So that the this church has two saints
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as the the patrons of the church. So
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that's kind of interesting as well.
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I think that's kind of unique. Yeah.
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Mhm.
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And for the for the architecture in the
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15th century, the temple was was rebuilt
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and enlarged into its current Valencian
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Gothic look. And
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right which is the outside. Now what we
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see now is just right.
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Yes. Because there were some changes
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made later on on the inside but
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originally it would have been fully
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Valencia inside
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inside and out.
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Right.
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And then it's what's unique. It has I
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you know a lot of these sort of
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cathedral type churches they have lots
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of little chapels. This has six chapels
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um on each side.
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Is that 12?
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So there's 12.
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So there's 12.
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Well 12 apostles.
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There you go. Yeah. That makes sense.
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Yes.
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And then there was an expansion done
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when Alfonso de Boura, is that how you
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want to say that?
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So yeah, so Borha or Borha I think you
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would say in espanol. But but what that
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really is is the Boures because the
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Boures were from um the Valencian region
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and then they changed the spelling to
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Bourja when they moved to Italy and
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started taking over the church and doing
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all the stuff that you can watch on
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whatever HBO Showtime, whoever shows the
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Boures, you can get that history from
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there.
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There you go. Go go go go go watch that.
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He was the director of the parish,
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Alonso de Boura. And then he also later
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became
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um Pope Kixstus III. Is that how you say
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that? I'm That's
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I think I mean I don't know what X's are
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pronounced and what are not.
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Yeah, but I think that's a little that's
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a bit exciting that there was a a pope
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that was originally a director of the
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parish here in Valencia as well. So
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there's a little there's a few little
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tidbits of of you know interesting
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details with this church as well.
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For sure. For sure. And then as we said
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it was originally had an austere gothic
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look but then in the 17th century um
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this baroque architect Juan Batista
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Perez Castile cover covered the interior
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drenched the interior with elaborate
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stucco and reliefs to create sculptures
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and and
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changed the complete look of the
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interior.
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Yeah. So he he was he was sort of in
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charge of the the architectural aspect
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of the decoration not the painting.
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Right. So he did he did this he did all
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this stucco relief work that created
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sculptures that you'll see and then he
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also added arches over the chapels to
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kind of cover the gothicky look of the
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pointed arches. So he tried to soften it
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up a little bit and that laid the that
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laid the the base for the painting
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renovation that was then done.
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So they literally laid the canvas for
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the uh master painter to King Carlos. um
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the second of Spain. and his name was
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Antonio Palamino and he came in for the
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renovation he created and he's also
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known for creating the frescos for the
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dome of the basilica of our lady the
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foraken forsak forsaken forsaken
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in Spanish in espanol is basilica de la
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veren de los demperatos
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is that close
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close enough I think close enough so he
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he was actually brought in to like you
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said so he was brought in to sort of
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design the frescos And he also did the
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de de los Santos Juanes, the church of
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St. John.
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But he two major churches here in
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So he was a big deal and he but he
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wasn't he was such a big deal that he
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didn't actually need to paint it. He
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just needed to design it.
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Right. Right.
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And then somebody else was brought in
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like one of his proteges was actually
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brought in to um to actually do the
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painting and that was a gentleman called
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Dionis Vidal. and he painted the the
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ceiling of this church. I mean, I can't
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believe it didn't take 500 years, but it
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was 1697 to 1700.
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There's no way that took three years. I
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would like I'd like a verification. I
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went triple cuz that is insane. How
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could you had So, I think I was going to
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say Antonio had him and then he had
8:56
people cuz there's no way you can do
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that in
8:58
I mean, I suppose if that's all you're
9:00
doing, but I feel like I just feel like
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you would go crazy and maybe he did. I
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don't know. But yeah, that seems insane.
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Yeah. Yeah, there's not enough coffee to
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get that finished person.
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There's not or sanity. And actually,
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maybe because of that, both these
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painters are actually in the mural in
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the in the fresco on the right.
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They put themselves, which I would if I
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was going to spend three years like
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upside down painting a ceiling. I'm
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putting myself in there, too.
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Right. Because your signature could
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easily get washed out, but if your whole
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body is in the picture, right?
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Yeah. No, I think that's Yeah. I mean,
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it's it's I mean, if you ever go see it,
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it's it's amazing.
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What what I think is is amazing um about
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this church um now with all these
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paintings and it's it's it's like a
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where's Waldor? It's just so much coming
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at you. But now they have a light show
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to the church. And so when you go in
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now, I think that's why they raised the
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price because there's now this big light
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show. And it's like video mapping where
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they'll they'll shoot images on it. But
10:02
what they're doing is highlighting like
10:04
the cherubs. They'll highlight different
10:05
elements as well as like wash it in
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flowers and make it all cool like you
10:10
like this video. But then they highlight
10:12
but what they also do is they highlight
10:14
the gothic elements that you forget to
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see the ribbing of the arches and stuff.
10:18
So that'll all get lit up so you kind of
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have a feeling of what it looked like
10:21
before all this baroque stuff was
10:23
I mean I feel that that would that's
10:24
really necessary because it's incredibly
10:26
overwhelming. like I I would want to go
10:29
back three or four times just to take in
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all these different elements because
10:33
what you have is an incredibly complex
10:37
canvas that they're painting on because
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it's not a flat ceiling. You have what
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they call luntos which are these vaulted
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it's a vated ceiling but because of all
10:45
the windows it's vated like 12 times and
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then inside of each of those vaults is
10:50
more layering of of dimensions of
10:52
ceiling. So, it's not just like this
10:54
flat canvas. And then inside of that,
10:56
like you're saying, you have these
10:57
elements that are supposed to be gothic.
10:59
All the bits that they've covered up,
11:01
the neo gothic area and all this kind of
11:02
thing. It's a lot. So, I can imagine a
11:05
light show being a very cool addition.
11:07
It is very cool. And and I've been to
11:10
the church twice now and that definitely
11:11
made it seem
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I didn't know that, right? Like it
11:15
Yeah. You'd need to see
11:16
it brought me back. Yeah.
11:17
Yeah. Because I did. So the each lenetto
11:19
so each of these sort of al coes each of
11:22
these vaulted areas is representing a
11:24
different miracle or event in the life
11:27
of the two saints. So one down one side
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of the church you have the life of one
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of the saint of one of the saints and
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then the other side you have the life
11:35
and miracles of the other one and then
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on top of that you have like angels and
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saints and other martyrs and other
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figures from Christian virtues. So it's
11:45
like it's a lot. It's it's just a lot.
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Can we share Can we share with the
11:49
audience the two terms that I did not
11:51
know when we were doing our research,
11:53
which is the left side of the church is
11:56
called the gospel side and the right
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side is the epistle side. And I grew up
12:00
as a Catholic and
12:01
and you didn't know that, but you
12:02
weren't sitting on the right side of the
12:04
church.
12:05
So the gospel
12:06
So it's like a boat, right? It's like a
12:07
boat. You're port side or starboard
12:10
side. Is that the
12:11
Oh my gosh. Please don't make me test
12:12
that one. So the gospel side, which is
12:14
the left, is the side of St. Peter and
12:16
the epistol side which is the right. Did
12:18
I say that? Did I say right twice or did
12:20
I say left?
12:20
No, you know you said left.
12:21
I did say that. And then the epistol the
12:23
right side is St. Nicholas. But then you
12:24
have all these other things. And I did
12:26
the audio tour where you can pick like
12:29
get the audio and it explains things and
12:31
it does start it does talk about each
12:34
Lunto separately.
12:36
I was not very good at paying attention
12:38
and I lost which Lunto it was talking
12:40
about at some point because I was there
12:42
with a bunch of friends that were
12:43
visiting because that's when you go. So,
12:45
we were there with a bunch of people and
12:47
of course you start talking to your
12:48
friend in between and I forgot which
12:50
Lenetta and if you lose track of which
12:52
Lenettto you're on that's the end of it.
12:54
You don't know what's going on because
12:55
you're looking at the wrong thing but
12:56
they all have saints and angels and
12:59
everything in it. So, it's very
13:01
interesting though. Definitely worth it.
13:04
Um but you know things keep changing
13:07
right? So they've added the light show
13:08
but you know they they blew up Baroque
13:10
all over this church but there have been
13:12
updates since then. So in the 19th
13:14
century they had um ar an architect
13:16
named Timato Calvo um and he added some
13:20
neo gothic elements um and I think there
13:22
was like a new facade to the church and
13:24
added stained glass windows and a large
13:26
neo gothic rose window um but thankfully
13:30
did not change the baroque interior. So
13:32
they they left that which was
13:35
which I'm kind of surprised in a way. I
13:37
feel like there might be a point where
13:38
someone walked in there and was like is
13:40
this too much? Maybe we should paint
13:41
over half of it. But that never
13:43
happened. So yeah. And then in 2016 led
13:47
by um an architect Carlos Campos, what
13:51
they did with the Institute of Heritage
13:53
Restoration of the Polytenic University
13:55
of Valencia, they spent €4.7 million
13:58
euros to renovate. They didn't make
14:00
changes. They were renovating the
14:01
frescos and the stuckos and the
14:03
structural elements to make sure that
14:04
everything was still beautiful and
14:06
structurally sound. So that was a a real
14:08
just a renovation.
14:10
We call that juujing up. They used it up
14:12
a little bit.
14:12
That's what they did without changing
14:15
anything.
14:16
Right. Fluffed a few pillows, reinforced
14:19
some things that might have been
14:20
falling. Right.
14:21
Exactly. And if all of that is not
14:23
enough, there is an an extended
14:26
collection of artwork and sculptures
14:27
from various famous historical artists
14:29
also in the church that you can visit.
14:32
We'll leave that there because I can't
14:34
get into like all the different
14:36
there's a million names of artists.
14:38
Million names artists. And if we tell
14:40
you everything, then you'll know too
14:41
much when you go. You you have to go and
14:43
be surprised, right? And so you can go
14:46
um pretty much um anytime you want. It
14:49
is a museum, but there are times when it
14:51
is closed, and Mondays is one of them.
14:53
They do not allow visitors in, yet it's
14:56
open to worshippers. Um and Mondays are
14:59
dedicated to St. Nicholas Abari which
15:01
allows the faithful to make wishes um
15:04
especially regarding issues related to
15:06
childhood, family, health or uh serious
15:09
financial difficulties.
15:09
I quite love this that it's not
15:11
so I think we should all go on Monday. I
15:12
think Monday is a good day.
15:14
Well, I feel like it's a nice thing that
15:16
obviously they're doing a regular
15:17
service. I don't think everyone that's
15:18
going is is is trying to get a wish
15:20
done. But I think it's the the the
15:22
wishing part I think is a really nice
15:24
sort of aspect, but it's it's a little
15:27
it's a little excessive what you have to
15:29
do to get your wish granted. So
15:32
Okay. So tell us I want to see what you
15:34
think is excessive.
15:35
Well,
15:36
cuz I know what you have to do, but I
15:37
want the audience to hear what you think
15:39
is excessive.
15:40
So you have to go on three consecutive
15:41
Mondays.
15:43
That's the first thing. You must visit
15:45
on foot. No driving your scooter up to
15:48
the wind up to the door. You know,
15:50
you've actually got
15:51
You've been there. It's hard to drive
15:52
down that street park.
15:54
I wouldn't want to drive down that
15:55
street, but I would imagine you can't
15:57
even drive part of the way. You have to
15:59
from your house, you better walk the
16:01
whole way.
16:01
So, that's a
16:02
Well, for you in the mountains, that
16:04
Yeah, that would be hard for you. But
16:05
for us in the city, it's just 15, 20
16:07
minutes away.
16:08
And I know this is going to be shocking
16:09
for everybody that might be listening,
16:11
but this would be hard for both of us.
16:13
You have to remain respectfully silent
16:16
throughout the entire journey and once
16:19
inside the church and continue in
16:22
silence and pray before
16:24
um the relic of St. Nicholas. So that
16:27
would be hard.
16:29
Are you trying to say I couldn't be
16:30
silent for the whole week? I think I I
16:33
you know let's do it. Let's see.
16:35
That seems
16:35
Let's see who breaks the wish first.
16:37
Challenge.
16:39
Me probably.
16:41
But that's what you need to do to have
16:43
to have a wish granted by St. Nicholas.
16:45
So, at least there's a goal there, which
16:47
is nice.
16:47
Um, there is. And, you know, I've heard
16:49
from friends that there's other churches
16:51
here that I mean, I don't really know
16:53
much about the Catholic tradition, but I
16:55
a Spanish friend of mine was like, "Oh,
16:57
you have to go to this church to make
16:58
that wish and that church to make that
17:00
wish." So, maybe we maybe have to get
17:03
into some some iconography. I don't know
17:05
what do you call that? You know, kind of
17:07
just get to know what all the things are
17:09
and then go to each church and make all
17:11
your wishes. I mean, it can't hurt,
17:13
right?
17:13
It can't it can't hurt, you know.
17:16
Okay. Well, there's a challenge for the
17:18
week. And that's all we know about the
17:22
de St. Nicholas Dari E San Pedro Mart.
17:27
This is true. So, we hope you come to
17:29
Valencia and and get a chance to see
17:31
this church because it is breathtaking
17:33
and spectacular and over the top. Yeah.
17:37
Until then, that's our Poco Poco. Ciao,
17:39
Tanya.
17:40
Bye.
17:44
Thank you for listening to us Poco Poco.
17:46
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18:12
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message through our um our Spain
18:18
Facebook page or Instagram. So, we would
18:20
love to hear from you.
18:21
Yes, we would. Till the next episode.
18:24
Bye.
18:26
[Music]

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