Près des remparts de Séville - Part II

I have never been a fan of any type blood sport however - you knew there was going to be a however didn't you? - whither I approve/like/accept it or not bullfighting has been a integral part of Spanish culture for several centuries. This does not make it either right or palatable - I went to a bullfight in Arles in the South of France many years ago.  Following the traditions of Provence it was not to the death but I still found it rather unsettling.  There are  things in many cultures that I don't approve of, but that as a visitor I must simply accept as being a fact of history.   While visiting Sevilla I could simply ignore the whole bullfighting phenomena or take a look at it and try and understand where and why it fits into the culture of the country.

The Coat of Arms of Real Maestranza De Caballería de
Sevilla:  the Goddess of Peace and the Goddess of War
flank the motto Utriusque Interest - it matters to both.

As unusual as it may seem to us the annual season of bullfighting is administered by a Royal Society:    Real Maestranza De Caballería de Sevilla (The Royal Order of Chivalry).  The first Brotherhood was established as Cofradía de San Hermenegildo shortly after the conquest of the city by Ferdinand the Saint in 1248.  The Order was created for the purpose of training the nobility in the use of arms and equestrian skills.   Their stables bred some of the finest mares and colts in Andalusia - trained for military action and civilian sport and leisure.   Even in those early days the Order organized public events in the main squares of Sevilla to celebrate feast days, commemorations and Royal visits

In 1670 it was reestablished under its current title and in 1730 came under the symbolic leadership of a member of the Royal Family - King Juan Carlos I,  is the current Hermano Mayor which rather whimsically translates as Big or Elder Brother of the order.  Amongst the equestrian festivals the Order organized were annual games of Alcancias (a military exercise), Manejos (dressage) and Toros y Cañas (Bulls and Lances).  It is the later that was the precursor of modern day bullfighting.

An early French print shows the make-shift set up of the bullring when it was indeed simply a converted Plaza.

Early bullfights were meant as displays of equestrian abilities and took place in public squares rather than in a designated arena.  Streets were blocked off with fences and carts,  stands erected and balconies around the square hung with banners and tapestries.  It was not until the early 1700s that a permanent wooden structure was considered for the annual season of bullfighting.  It was a rectangle styled after the squares that had been the sites of previous seasons.  Later in the century in was replaced by another wooden building but this time in a circular shape.  By mid-century the area had become built up with additional stone buildings accommodating stables, butcher shops and warehouses - these stone buildings were to affect the design of the building seen today.

The bullring of the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla in 1837 as seen by David Roberts.  Though the boxes adjacent to the Prince's Box were roofed-over it was still possible to see the Cathedral and the Giralda from many of the stands.

A more permanent stone structure was begun in 1761 and over the years changed and added to until in 1785 Carlos III prohibited bullfights.  For the next 60 years little was done in the way of maintenance or building until in 1841 construction and restoration began again.  It was to continue until 1972 when the old warehouse under the stands were converted into a broad circular corridor and the museum and art gallery.

The facade of the Plaza del Toros is an 19th century interpretation  of baroque;
as a result of being built, reconstructed and added to over 120 years the building has 30 unequal sides. 

And it was the museum and gallery that we decided to explore to find the story and traditions  behind  bullfighting in Spain and more particularly Sevilla.  The Museum is small but beautifully set up and the guides are charming and more than willing to answer questions and talk about the "sport".  They seem to be sensitive to the feelings of non-aficionados - particularly North Americans.  No apologies were being given but every attempt was made to place things in a historical and cultural context so that though we may not approve at least we were able to understand how it fit into life there.

Guillermo Muñoz Vera's
2014 Poster

Bullfighting has been a popular subject for lithographers, painters and photographers so it didn't seem unusual that there is also an art gallery as an element of the museum.  Back in 1994 painter Juan Maestre, who was also a caballero with the Order, launched a project to commission artists to design the posters for the major Feria de Abril season.  Since then well-known foreign and Spanish artists such as Larry Rivers, Fernando Botero,  Joaquín Sáenz, Ricardo Cadenas, Manuel Salinas, Félix de Cárdenas amongst others have created the images that advertise the two weeks that are the most important of the year.  The wide range of artists and styles have meant that posters have ranged from the whimsical to the reverential to the outright (in my view) bizarre.  And in some cases it is possible that the artist is subtly criticizing his patrons.  

Unfortunately the rather intriguing piece created by Guillermo Muñoz Vera for this year's Feria is only available as a small image.  Muñoz Vera is known for his realism and often a sense of disturbing melancholy.  I may be reading too much into it but I do find the looming shadow of the bull facing the empty stands unsettling.

A click on the rather science-fantasy image of the bull below will take you to a retrospect of the past 20 years of colourful posters.

I have to admit one of my favourites is the 2007 poster by Manolo Quejido - not the most confident of matadors from the looks of it.

March 29 - 1867: Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.

Près des remparts de Séville - Part I

I mentioned to my friend Michael in Dallas that for some reason Spain had always been fairly low on my list of countries to visit in my forty-five years of travelling.  I'm not sure why the Iberian peninsula was previously excluded but in the past few years I've made up for it with two trips to Barcelona, a stay in Madrid, sadly only a day in Valencia but fortunately longer visits to Sevilla and Granada.  I'm going to need another lifetime because the bucket list still includes Cordova, Cadiz, Zaragoza,  Santiago de Compostela, the Basque Country, Navarre and a return visit to spend more time in Valencia, Granada and Sevilla.

The magnificent Cathedral, the largest Gothic structure in the world, dominates the city in this map of Sevilla from 1590.  The port was the sole centre of trading for the Indies until it was superseded by Cadiz; the Guadalquivir has long since silted and is navigable only for small boats - fortunately ours was in that category.

It may be difficult to imagine now but at one time Sevilla was the major port of the Spanish Empire.  Their Catholic Majesties had decreed that La Casa y Audiencia de Indias or clearing house for all goods to and from the Indies would be located in the city on the Guadalquivir River.  This meant that anyone doing or wanting to do trade with the Spanish colonies had to come to Seville.  It was to remain the greatest city in Spain during the Golden Age until three events sent it into decline:  Cadiz was designated a trading port, plague decimated the population in 1649 and the river that was its artery to the sea began to silt up.

We were fortunate that the Azamara Quest is one of the few cruise liners that is small enough to make the journey to the port and is able to dock right in the city - and I mean right smack in the city.  And we were doubly fortunate as this was the last time that she would be going into Seville - the port insurance costs are too high.  We were to understand why when we watched what it took to get us into dock.

Captain Smith was a chatty,  affable and extremely seasoned seaman and he announced that we would be entering Seville harbour at 0300 in a series of interesting and tricky maneuvers that should anyone wish to look in there would be coffee, tea and pastries on deck.  He felt that it might just be worth missing an hour or so's sleep to see.  Well there was no way we were going to miss this.  I thought I had taken pictures but can't seem to find them on either my camera or my iPhone however Laurent did have a few photos and has kindly given them to me.

Heading up the Canal de Alfonso VIII towards the basin of the Port of Sevilla.

We left the Quadalquivir at the Embarcadaro and entered the Canal de Alfonso VIII (which follows the old course of the river) and passed under the suspension bridge at the Ronda de Circunvelencion with about 15 feet to spare.  When we reached the basin of the entrance to the Porto Captain Smith did a 180° pivot and proceeded stern first or backwards up the left branch of the Canal towards the Puente de las Delicias, the last lift bridge on that stretch of the Canal.

Approaching the Puente de las Delicias lift bridge at 0330 in the morning with the city glowing in the background.

Almost at the bridge in our backward progress towards the site where Columbus docked on his return from the New World.  He had left with three ships but the Santa Maria was wrecked off the coast of Hispaniola and only the Nina and the Pinta returned.

We watched the basic maneuvers from the top deck but then moved to the balcony of our cabin which was right at the aft of the liner.  It was incredible as we slowly moved towards the bridge and passed through it with only about 5 feet on either side (see photo below).  Had we been in the cabins on either side of ours we would have been almost able to touch the bridge - thus the reason that the insurance premiums were so astronomical for our entry into port.

As we passed through the Puente de las Delicias it was almost possible to touch the spans from our cabin at the aft of the Azamara Quest.

We docked at Puente de los Remedios beside the marvelous colonial neo-baroque splendor of Martin Noel's Palace of the Republic of Argentina built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.  The quayside and adjacent Paseo de las Delicias are lined with buildings designed to house exhibitions from the former American colonies of that Golden time when Sevilla was the mercantile capital of Europe.  After the exhibition the Argentine Pavilion became the Murillo High School but now houses a dance academy.

Preparing to dock at the quayside adjacent to  the Pabellón de la República Argentina from the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.  Many of the Pavilions from the Exposition are still standing and in use as municipal offices, museums and restaurants.

By the time we had docked it was almost 0400 so we took one final walk around the deck - took in the lights of the city and a dark sky dotted with stars before turning in for what was left of the night.  Captain Smith was right - it was worth interrupting our sleep to watch.  And his deft work meant that from our berth at the foot of the Paruqe de Maria Luisa we were in easy walking distance of the bosky pleasures of the park itself, the Plaza de España, the Plaza de Toros and all the attractions of the old city.

 March 23 - 1540: Waltham Abbey is surrendered to King Henry VIII of England; the last religious community to be closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
 

Una Joia del Gòtic Català* - Part IV

The title of  the posts I've done recently on the Monestir de Pedrables in Barcelona have been entitled Una Joia del Gòtic Català - A Jewel of Catalan Gothic.  And indeed it is!  But within that glorious Catalan Gothic frame rests many jewels of the Catalan Renaissance and Baroque.  The dormitor is a treasure casket of paintings, etchings, sculptures, carvings, fabric and furnishings of the great periods of wealth for the Poor Clares.

The Monastery attracted woman from many of the noblest - and wealthiest - families of Catalonia.  The Roman Catholic tradition of an unmarried girl - or girls - from a family being sent to the cloister was strong in the society of the time.  And it should be recognized that the Monastery was founded by a widow and many of the first sisters were wealthy widows like its founder.  Families were bound to give gifts as part of the "dowry" as their daughters/sisters were "wedded" to Christ.  As well as money the dowry would often include religious objects worked in gems, gold and silver and paintings of a religious nature - often celebrating the patron saints and piety of the donating family.  Royal and wealthy patrons would give gifts as votive offerings and thanks for blessings received.  Over the centuries a religious house could amass a wealth of art and artifacts.

And if the museum of the cloister is any indication the treasury of Pedrables was overflowing.  A favoured way of displaying the wealth was to enclosed several paintings, ceramics or reliefs within an elaborately carved and gilded frame.  These retables or retablos could serve as the backdrop for a portable altar or were hung in sisters' cells as shrines and focuses for mediation.  The themes of the retablos are fairly common - patron saints, the Nativity, the Crucifixion, the Madonna - some with magnificent works of art will-you nil-you incorporated with what could be termed "religious schlock". In some cases they were given to the Monastery as a completed piece but many were created after the fact, at the behest of the Order, from objects donated individually.  There are often stylistic differences in the paintings, ceramics or carvings that would suggest the later.

Amongst the many on display there was one retablo in particular that caught my attention.  Unfortunately I didn't make note of the details and a request for information to the Museum at the Monastery has gone unanswered.

The format is fairly standard: a top piece (in this case the Crucifixion); two framing objects (St Anthony of Padua and, I believe, the Virgin - I can't make out the attributes) and a central portrait of a young Madonna holding a distaff and spindle.  The whole is encased in an intricately carved and gilded frame. 

It was that central portrait that struck me:  Mary, almost a child, dressed in traditional Catalan garb and spinning as legend tells us she did while being prepared in the Temple for her tremendous task.

The Gospel of St James relates that St Anne and St Joachim had given up all hope of having children but were given a heavenly message that Anne would conceive and bear a girl child.  In thanksgiving for this miracle they vowed to dedicate the child to God.  (Always a little cynical where these things are concerned I wonder at longing to have a child in the house and then vowing to give the child up almost immediately - something doesn't compute there!) At the age of three they presented her into the care of the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem and she was to remain there until she was twelve years old.   During that time she was prepared for her role as the Mother of God according to the both James and other pseudo-Gospels.  One of her duties in the temple was to make vestments for the priests which would account for the distaff and spindle in this lovely little painting and perhaps also serves as justification for the working of vestments that became the vocation of many of the sisters.

What I found marvelous about this, admittedly, minor oil painting is the way the subject is treated.  This could be any little girl from the countryside, freshly scrubbed and in her Sunday best - it is possible to see young girls dressed in exactly the same way at various religious and secular festival throughout Catalonia.  As was the tradition she has had her ears pierced and she wears a simple strand of coral beads.  At the time it was not uncommon for children to wear a coral necklace as it was thought to ward off illness and the evil eye.   But in Christian iconography coral has a deeper significance as it represents the blood and the sacrifice of Christ.  The painter was transferring what he no doubt saw in front of him to canvas but there was also an underlying message.  This simple little innocent peasant girl, serenely going about her work, was to become the crucible for the salvation of the world. 

Some how I find this more worthy of meditation and reference than all the bejewelled, velvet robed, silver crowned Queens of Heaven that populate the more revered shrines throughout Spain.

February 4 - 1936:  Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.

Una Joia del Gòtic Català* - Part III

The Monastery Refectory and Kitchen

Though the sisters had their day cells - in some cases elaborately decorated with murals, tapestries and frescoes - much of the life in the Monastery was of a communal nature.  The second floor dormidor was a common sleeping room though it may have been subdivided by wooden or tapestry partitions to allow for some privacy.  Traditionally the sub-prioress would sleep closest the entrance to monitor what was happening in the dormitory and to take attendance.  The dormitory normally had - as it does at Pedralbes - easy access to the Nun's gallery of the adjacent church as attendance at offices was required as part of the rule of the order.

The Refectory of the Monastery is on the ground floor and accessible from the North
end of the cloister through a carved wooden grill.

 Meals were also a communal activity and were taken in the ground floor refectory.  At Pedralbes it is accessed through a lovely wood grill; the benches and tables are against the walls and sisters sat in order of position and seniority.  Meals were served by the novices and postulants who ate after the professed sisters had their meal.  Meals were simple - meat was only eaten on major feast days - and taken in silence with one of the sisters assigned to read from a text for the day - perhaps a passage from the Gospels or Letters, The Lives of the Saints, a sermon or a theological treatise.

The sisters sat along the wall and the tables were fixed to the stone floor - you have to wonder
what purpose the rest of the wide open space served?  The lector for the day would read from
the pulpit high up on the left of the room.

There is no adornment in the room other than this crucifix against a wall fresco. The device
at the foot of the cross is the coat of arms of the Monastery.   The field was originally the
personal coat of arms of Queen Elisenda, and combined the striped crest of the counts of
Catalonia, into which she married, and the spotted crest of the house of Montcada.

If the refectory is much as it was and has been for the past 600 years the adjacent kitchen showed the advancements in cooking equipment over several centuries.   There is no sign of the open fireplaces that would have originally been used in the early years - possibly they were bricked up.  But a wonderful collection of old cast iron stoves, modern gas burners and an even older ceramic stove gave hints of how meals were prepared.  Even the tiles gave indication of the passage of time - large stark white tiling that suggested the 1930s, obviously factory made blue and white tiles of the late-19th early-20th century and most notably hand painted tiles from the 17th century.  The later creating one of the most fanciful and charming back splashes I've ever seen for the marvelous ceramic stove.

As Gothic as the refectory may be the adjacent kitchen reflects modern (?) advancements in cooking equipment. 
I wonder if the hot water tank is still fed by the cistern in the cloister?

I can only imagine the heat that this enormous cast iron stove must have given off.  You can almost see the sister wiping the sweat from her brow as she stirs up a steaming pot of vegetable stew to be ladled out and born by a novice into the refectory.

This marvelous ceramic stove probably dates from the 16th-17th century.  It was an efficient way of getting the maximum amount of heat from a minimum amount of fuel.

But the colourful ceramic was more than a decorative element on this early masonry stove.  It was an even and long lasting conductor of heat.  Masonry stoves were fuel efficient - hay, twigs or  split logs could be burned in them and burned at a high temperature.  A small fire could give heat that would last up to six hours after the fire had died down.  This meant that a single fire could handle much of the cooking needs for the day.

The decorative tiles on the back splash would have also retained and reflected heat as well as being a source of both religious contemplation and, possibly,  amusement. 

St Anthony of Padua Tile | Fiddler Tile | Trumpeter Tile | Maja Tile | Washer Woman Tile | Basket Weaver Tile | Flute Player Tile | Weaver Tile | Dragon Tile | Bull Tile | Bagpipe Player Tile | Image Map

I recently found a great little free programme which creates mapping links on photos in a few easy steps.  I've used it to allow close ups of the charming primitive tiles on the back guard of the Monastery stove.  As you move your mouse over each tile a left click or use the links at the bottome of the picture to enlarge the tile in another window for a closer look. Thanks to image-maps.com for a very cool tool.

 December 14 - 1287: St. Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.

Una Joia del Gòtic Català* - Part II

The Cloister of the Monastery of Pedralbes

Often I have found that in the midst of many a bustling city there is a place of quiet and peace:  as an example Ibun Tulun  Mosque in Cairo, the chapel of St Faith at Westminster Abbey or the Cloister of the Monastery of Pedralbes in Barcelona.  On the day of our visit, unlike La Sagrada Famillia, Las Ramblas and other sites in the city, there were maybe twenty other people who were wandering leisurely through the Monastery complex.  Though known it would seem that it is not on everyone's bucket list of "must-sees" in Barcelona - a shame in one way but a blessing in another.  It allowed us to visit the monastery and its precincts undisturbed and enjoy the peacefulness.

The tomb of Queen Elisenda: this is the Cloister side of her double-sided tomb.   Unlike the sculpture on church side, here she is divested of all symbols of royalty and wears the habit of a penitent.  She did not take holy orders but took part in the daily life of the Monastery after the death of her husband.

As I mentioned in my previous post the Monastery was built by Queen Elisenda on land she had purchased from Admiral Bernat de Sarriá.  The area - named after the good Admiral - was an independent township and remained so until 1927 when it was incorporated into Barcelona.  The Monastery itself remained in the hands of the Poor Clares - save for a brief period during Catalan Revolt of 1640 - until it was purchased by the corporation of Barcelona in 1971.  A new Monastery was built nearby for the small community that remained of this once great house.  The site had been declared a Spanish national monument as early as 1931 but was not opened as a museum until 1983.

There is no access to the monastery from the church - a separate entrance leads you through a small series of halls and opens up into the cloister, the largest in the world.   A spacious and graceful area, it is a three story structure with twenty-six columns on each of the four sides.  The main level was part of the original Monastery, the second level was added in 1419 and the third level later the same century.  The cloister garden was used to grow medicinal plants and flowers - the nuns were known for the elaborate bouquets of roses, orange flowers and jasmine they made for the celebration of holy days in Barcelona. 

The Cloister is three stories high, with twenty-six graceful Gothic columns on each side, making it one of the largest cloisters in the world.   The first level was part of the original building; the second story, in the same style, was added in 1419.  The third story, added in the late 1400s, is squatter and supported by thicker more widely spaced columns giving it an almost Romanesque look.

Following the suggested route the first enclosure off the cloister is St Michael's Chapel - one of the treasures of Pedralbes.  The chapel is decorated with murals by Ferrer Bassa and depicts the Joys of the Virgin and the Passion.  Painted between 1343-1346 they were contracted by  Francesca ça Portella, the niece of Queen Elisenda, who was Abbess of the Monastery from 1336 to 1364:

It is agreed between the lady abbess of Pedralbes and Ferrer Bassa that the said Ferrer shall paint in fine colours, with oil, the Chapel of St. Michael ........

And the abbess shall pay Ferrer Bassa two hundred and fifty sous, his food and that of those who help the painter in the said work; and out of the two hundred and fifty sous, the said abbess shall pay the said Ferrer Bassa one hundred sous in advance and the remaining one hundred and fifty sous when the work is finished.

Extract from the contract in the Monastery archives

There seems to have been some dispute between the good lady abbess and the painter and he many not have received all the money due him.  It has been suggest that much of the work was not by the artist himself but by his son Arnau or an Italian assistant.  Bassa was greatly influenced by the Italian school and followed the Gioto techniques of both "fresco" and "secco" painting in his work.  He also used many technical innovations that had been introduced in Tuscany in the early 14th century.

The tomb of Francesca ça Portella is in the same niche as that of her aunt, Queen Elisenda.  She was Abbess for almost 30 years and commissioned the painting of Capella Sant Miquel by Ferrer Bassa in 1343.  It is said she intended the chamber as her own day cell.

 It has also been suggested that Abbess Francesca's original intent had been to use the chamber as her day cell and it may well have served that purpose.  Over the 700 year history of the Monastery it has seen several uses other than that of chapel.  At some point it was the Monastery archive and between 1801-1870 it served as a cloakroom then as the Abbot's cell.   While it was being put to those different uses the murals were protected behind furniture and hangings until they were  rediscovered in the late 19th century.

A left click on this panorama of the Murals of the Capella de Sant Miquel will take you to an extensive website devoted to the project.  It is "worth the detour" for the rich animations and virtual tours its offers.  I'm still exploring it.

Unfortunately the Chapel is currently closed and a massive restoration project is underway.  However there was a fascinating exhibition on the current two stage project: first a detailed investigation of the work and techniques involved then stabilizing the paintings and restoring them to their original splendor.  A feature of the exhibition was a short film showing how the murals were painted - I suggest that you use the expand symbols on the control panel to get the full effect.

If we could not view the "jewel" of the Monastery there was still enough to fascinate in both cloister and in the rooms accessible to the public.  As well as the Cloister side of Queen Elisenda's doubled-sided tomb the wall adjacent to the church was lined with the tombs of women who had served as Mother Abbess or were influential in the history of the life of the Monastery.  The final resting places of Abbess Francesa,  Beatriu de Fenollet, Constança de Cardona and Elionor de Pinós are examples of Catalonian Gothic sculpture, decoration and architecture at its peak.

The south wall of the Cloister contains the tombs of several of the women who were influential in the foundation and workings of the Monastery in the 13-14th centuries.  Their resting places are amongst the finest  examples of Gothic sculpture, painting and architecture in Catalonia.

The passageways on two levels give public entrance to a series of day cells, which provided the sisters with their own personal retreats, as well as the offices, an infirmary, the refectory and kitchen, chapter house and dormidor or the nuns' sleeping quarters.   The later - a enormous timbered-ceiling room - is stunning in its simplicity and looks almost modern in its design.  It now houses many of the votive treasures given to the Monastery as well as the day to day furniture and utensils used by the Poor Clares over the 700 year history of the complex.

This large second floor room was the Dormidor - or common sleeping quarters - and now houses many of the Monastery treasures.  Built to display the artwork the contemporary pop-art coloured walls cannot hid the clean, austere lines of the original stone and wood work of the room.  An almost modern (it is in fact from the 15th century) spiral staircase leads to the the third floor and the quarters of the Lady Abbess.

The Chapter House was constructed in 1419 however it is believed that part of the stain glass dates from the 1300s when the Monastery was first constructed.  Sadly my camera would not pick up the glory of the stain which includes the personal coat of arms of Queen Elisenda.

The Gardens of the Cloister follow the standard pattern of four quadrants surrounding a central fountain.  Each quadrant serves its function within the quadrangle:  orange trees in one, herbs in another, flower garden in the third and well-head in the fourth.  As well it serves as a cool, quiet place to spend the day during the heat of summer.

The Cloister quadrangle followed the pattern of the time - a central fountain surrounded by four quadrants each serving an important function in monastery life:  An herb garden, a flower garden, a rest area of shade and a well-head.

Looking at the artistic wealth of the Monastery it is perhaps easy to be slightly cynical about the "Poor Clares" however it must be kept in mind that many of the sisters of the congregation came from privilege.  Most were noblewomen and the founder herself was royalty and they practiced the arts of the gentlewomen of their time as well as observing the rules of their order.

A gentlewoman of the period would be expected to excel in the art of needlework and the good sisters of the Monastery were no exception.  They worked vestments for both their Church of Santa Maria and for other parishes in the region of Sarriá and nearby Barcelona. The red chasuble was meant for a festive mass while the black figured with the symbols of the Passion was possibly for an event during Holy Week.

It is interesting to note that in the early years of the 19th century, the victim of the French Revolution and advancing secularization, the Order of Poor Clares declined everywhere in Europe except Spain.  In an 1909 census there were 247 monasteries with 5543 confessed sisters in Spain - nearly a third of the order at the time.  A search for the current state of the Order has produced no numbers but in the past decade there has been a resurgence in Spain of entry into the novitiate.  Many of the women are mid-aged, well-educated, professionals - a historical pattern set by their predecessors.  

As a side note: In one of those strange traditions, its origins lost in the fog of history, on the Feast Day of Saint Eulàlia the Alicante of Barcelona brings a dozen eggs as a gift to the sisters of the Monastery.  This may be because it is believed that the Saint (who is the patron of Barcelona) was born in  Sarriá.  But why eggs, why a dozen and how exactly this guarantees good fortune in the following year has not been explained.  Nor is it mentioned if the Mayor stays for a breakfast frittata.

December 12 -1915: President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.