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NOVEMBER 2013 TRIP TO MADRID AND TOLEDO
NOVEMBER 2013 TRIP TO MADRID
MARCH 2014 TRIP TO VALENCIA
APRIL 2014 TRIP TO ALICANTE
NOVEMBER 2014 TRIP TO MADRID AND TOLEDO
MARCH 2015 TRIP TO ALICANTE
MAY 2015 TRIP TO XATIVA
NOVEMBER 2016 TRIP TO MADRID
MARCH TOLEDO TRIP 2018
MAY 2018 VALENCIA TRIP
NOV. 2018 MEDIEVAL MADNESS TRIP * Segorbe, Moro de Rubelios, Teruel & Albarracin
MARCH 2019 GANDIA EXPERIENCE TRIP *
MAY 2019 ROYAL MONASTERY COTALBA

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FABULOUS FLAMBOYANT GOTHIC CLOISTER * CONVENT OF SANT DOMINGO

The convent of Sant Doménec or Sant Domingo is one of the most important Gothic monuments in the city of Valencia.

It was founded by the Aragonese King Jaume I (1208-1276) and home to the Valencian Dominican preachers - Sant Vicent Ferrer (1350-1419) and Lluís Bertran (1526-1581)

It was visited and protected by the kings of Aragon and the house of Austria and several times used as the headquarters of the Valencian Courts.

It became a historic-artistic monument since 1931, however it is not a well-known building due to its restricted visiting hours because the Valencia Captain General has resided here since 1840. This was a position created instead of the Viceroy of Valencia at the end of the War of Succession.

THE GRAND CLOISTER

The cloister at Sant Domingo is one of the most outstanding architectural beauties within the city boasting fabulous flamboyant "ogival" style arches.

Initiated at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the cloister is a square (34 m from side to s…

JUAN DE RIBERA * ARCHITECT OF EVICTION

Juan de Ribera (b1532-d1611) was the archbishop and viceroy of Valencia.

He used all of his civil and religious power to pressure Philip III towards the expulsion of the Moriscos, which was carried out in 1609.

Ribera despised the moriscos as heretics and traitors, a dislike he shared with much of Valencia's Christian populace.

With the Duke of Lerma / Marqués de Denia, Ribera helped convince King Philip III to expel the moriscos.

Ribera helped sell the plan by noting that all the property of the moriscos could be impounded to provide money for the treasury.

In 1609, the expulsion of the moriscos from Spain was decreed.

Ribera's original proposal was in fact more extreme: he favored enslaving the entire morisco population for work in galleys, mines and abroad. Ribera said that Philip III could do so "without any scruples of conscience," but this proposal was rejected.

If the moriscos were to be expelled, Ribera favored enslaving and Christianizing at least the child…

THE STORY OF JAVEA

Explore and Learn About the History of JÁVEA by visiting its most exciting and unique monuments and museum with Spanish Fine Arts & Architecture Historian / Educator, Karla Darocas, Hons. B. A. (KarlaDarocas.com)

MEETING PLACE: Central Indoor Market * The Cafe shop La Paraeta at the Calle San Marco door. Beside Carniceria Mutt https://goo.gl/maps/CL6yXQMw2zM2
- Come early for your coffee.

BOOKING form below...

TIMES: 10:30 - 13:00 finish times depends on bathroom breaks :)

FEE 10 euros: includes LECTURE & WALKING ROUTE / MAP, in case you get lost or separated from group

MAX. 5 students per group MAX

END OF WALK: Get a beverage and Q & A time...
NOTE: If you enjoy ancient artifacts then you can head back to the museum after the lecture.

PARKING in the Municipal Parking Lots...

REVIEWS: www.KarlaDarocas.com

ABOUT THE WALK

This is a "walking" lecture in the old town of Xàbia / Jávea exploring the eras from the 14th - 20th centuriesExamine both civic and sacred architec…

THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF GOYA'S MISSING SKULL

THE ENIGMA

Dionisio Fierros (1827-1894 ) was a Spanish Romantic painter who in 1849 painted a "vanitas", an allegorical still life, for the Marquis of San Adrián of Navarra.

It wasn't a very robust work of art, especially in an era of great Romanticism and drama.

It was a traditional "vanitas" of a skull, which was the most common symbol representing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death. It was a human skull displayed in a three quarter view. It had no jaw. It rested on a green carpet. It showed many dental failures. The color used was a toasted yellow.

It would have been a fairly boring 44 x 37 cm oil on canvas painting had it not been for the three words written on the back of the wooden frame, in sepia ink; ' Skull of Goya '.

Report by Karla Darocas. Hons. B.A. (Copyright 2019)

GOYA IN EXILE

Don Francisco de Goya decided to leave Spain in 1824, in part due to his dislike for Ferdinand VII's Bourbon doctrine…

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WATERY PARADISE IN GANDIA

The Alquería del Duc was a medieval fortified farmhouse built in the sixteenth century. It was bought in 1590 by Alfonso de Borja, the youngest son of the famous San Francisco de Borja, IV Duke of Gandia.

* Report by Karla Darocas. Hons. B.A. (Copyright 2019)

Alfonso transformed the straggly farmhouse into a romantic summer residence suitable for the Nobels and visiting Royals to frolic, fish and hunt. Unfortunately, due to his death in 1593, his renovations were not finished.

After his death, the property was held by his widow Elionor de Noroña from 1593 to 1596. When she decided to move her residence from Gandia to Madrid, the Royal Council of Madrid in 1596 granted the use of the property to the Society of Jesus; the religious order that her father-in-law served and made famous.

In 1600, when Leonor de Noroña died, her testamentary executors sold the farm to Francisco Carlos de Borja Centelles, IX Duke of Gandía, and his wife María Ponce de León 1700 pounds.

The building and the gr…

WATCH * 3D ANIMATION OF GALATEA OF THE SPHERES * A DALI PORTRAIT

Dali's passion for the sciences, as a way to express mysticism, comes into full vision in this mesmerizing painting - Galatea of the Spheres from 1952. It represents a synthesis of Renaissance art and atomic theory and illustrates the suspension of matter, the spheres themselves representing atomic particles.

WHO WAS ANDRÉ LAMBERT WITHIN THE HISTORY OF JÁVEA ARTS?

For many of you that have gone around Jávea on my Jávea Walk, we pop into a palace named Casa Lambert, which was preserved as an arts school and community artist exhibition space by the family of the French-Swiss painter, André Lambert.

So, who was Lambert and why was he so involved with the cultural life of Jávea?

Report by Karla Darocas (KarlaDarocas.com)

André Lambert Jordán (1884-1967) was a watercolorist, painter, engraver and Swiss-French architect who lived a large part of his life in Javea. For Lambert, Jávea was a gold mine of interest and he made many art works about the place from historical buildings to the unique landscape.

André Lambert was born in Switzerland on March 17, 1884, where he studied architecture at the School of Advanced Technical Studies in Munich. Later he went on to study Fine Arts in the Bavarian capital and it was these studies that ended him in Paris around 1908.

André established his first studio in Montparnasse, later moving to the Ile St. Louis.

In …

EL GRECO'S TINY TRIBUTE TO THE FATHER OF THE SACRED FAMILY

The Flight into Egypt, ca. 1570, is a small oil painting on a prepared pine board. It is mostly a landscape representation with the sacred family as the figures within it. It demonstrates El Greco's newly acquired knowledge of the Venetian style of painting that was popular at the time due to the grand Venetian master, Titian.

Report by Karla Darocas, Hons. B. A. (KarlaDarocas.com)
Exclusive for SpainLifestyle.com

In El Greco's work, the Holy Family is depicted on their journey to Egypt, fleeing the persecution of Herod.

El Greco places the three essential characters of this story in a beautiful setting of rolling hills and the lighting suggests that it is early evening. Mary sits on a donkey, carrying her naked Child in her arms. The infant is depicted as chubby, healthy, and wriggling with curiosity as he seeks out his father.

Joseph is having to exert his bodily force in an effort to pull the hesitating donkey onto the bridge. This uncommon gesture emphasizes Joseph’s acti…

MONASTERY OFFERS A VAST ARRAY OF ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS

The Royal Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba sits proudly on a small hill just outside of Gandia, in the district of Alfauir (Valencia). It is surrounded by nature, orange groves, walking trails and picnic spots. It is now a private estate that opens the main floor and the grounds to the public on weekends, but for over the past 600 years, it has been a very special place for Kings, Queens, Nobelmen and women and the Hieronymite Order.

The Hieronymite Order has its origin in Jàvea. In 1374 Pope Gregory XI authorized the foundation of a monastery in Jàvea to the Hieronymite order. The duke Alfonso of Aragon granted the grounds for this monastery but it was attacked by Berber pirates in 1387 and the monks feared to return. For that reason in 1388 Alfonso of Aragon bought the territories of Cotalba from Muslims, which was safer and he donated it all to the Hieronymite monks of Jàvea.

The Monastery itself is a complex or compound with a vast array of architectural wonders, which represent…

LECTURE AT PARADOR JAVEA ON VELAZQUEZ

Excellent gathering of Anglo-Spanish Society members to be enlightened by the brilliant artworks of the Spanish Master artist - Diego Velazquez.

Thank you to Keith Hyde for arranging this event and for hiring me to lecture. I am always delighted to share my knowledge and my love of these works of art.

There were approximately 60 fine folks at the lecture and a few of my "fans" hung around for this lovely group shot.

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