May 268 min read

Entry 3

Thursday, May 23rd

Today, we went to the Archaeology museum. On the way there, we saw a monument to the sailors that traveled with Columbus to the Americas.

Inside, I looked for exhibits to fill out a worksheet that the professor gave me.

First, I looked at an early bronze age burial site from Las Herrerías, which held the remains of a middle-aged man and his weapons (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Then, I examined a 4th century BC krater from Villaricos which was made in a Greek style. It depicts Thiasus and Ariadne from Greek mythology and was used to store liquids (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.). This was interesting to me because I knew there were Greek colonies in Italy but I didn’t know that Greek culture had spread as far west as Spain.

Next, I looked at another grave from 4th century Baza, Granada where funeral urns were made to keep the cremated remains of the dead. Also, the dead were buried with sentimental objects, like weapons and personal objects (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Later, I visited a Roman helmet and dagger from 1st century BC to 1st century AC when Rome waged several wars across Spain during this time (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Afterwards, I went to a marble statue of Tiberius made between 14-19 in Paestum Italy. Tiberius was the adopted son of Augustus and he was the emperor of Rome from 14 to 37 (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Then, I admired a plaque with Christian symbols from 4th-7th century Bética. The alpha and omega symbolize God being the beginning and end of everything. The Greek letters chi and rho represent the first two letters of Christ in Greek (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Next, I went to the golden visigothic crowns from the 7th century known as the Guarrazar hoard. Interestingly, these crowns were offerings from kings to churches and were hung above altars (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Then, I examined a Bronze sestertius coin from Rome around 18 BC. Roman coins like this sestertius would have been used in day-to-day transactions. The name Quintus Aelius Lamia appears on the coin. This man's family was originally from Huesca which was known as Osca at this time (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.).

Later, I looked at a doll made out of bone from the 3rd century (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.). It is interesting to know that kids would have fun playing with toys even as early as the 3rd century.

Something that I found was just beautiful was this gold tabernacle door with geometric patterns originally from Jaén (MAN - Museo Arqueológico Nacional, n.d.). This stood out to me because most doors at cathedrals aren't gold plated.

After finishing the worksheet, I also looked at a few other exhibits like the Lady of Elche and an old calendar.

After leaving the archaeology museum, I went back to Yugo and posted my second blog entry for the last few days.

Friday, May 24th

Today, I slept an extra hour because I didn’t have any class. Then, I had breakfast and planned to visit a few famous churches in Madrid. First, I went back to Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida where Francisco Goya was interred. This time, I paid more attention to the architecture of the church. The church is very small, plain, and modest. It doesn't have any stunning architectural qualities. Inside is a different story. Francisco Goya directly contributed to this church in 1798 with his stunning frescos on the ceiling depicting stories of San Antonio (Martín Larios, 2024). The church was originally commissioned by Carlos IV and was considered a popular pilgrimage destination (Martín Larios, 2024). Goya originally was buried in Bordeaux but was moved to the hermitage in 1919 (Martín Larios, 2024). In order to preserve the frescos, the original hermitage was preserved as a museum and an identical building was built next to it in 1928 (Martín Larios, 2024).

After seeing Goya's grave for a second time, I ran into a restaurant called El Urogallo, which I thought sounded a lot like like El Uruguayo. I might go there at some time in the future.

Then, I went to Basílica de la Concepción in the Salamanca neighborhood. It was started in 1902 by Eugenio Jiménez and completed in 1914 by Jesús Carrasco (Basílica de La Concepción de Nuestra Señora, n.d.). Several members of nobility and the bourgeoisie were buried here, including Emilia Pardo Bazán (Basílica de La Concepción de Nuestra Señora, n.d.). The impressive neo-gothic basilica is white with a 44-foot tall spire (Basílica de La Concepción de Nuestra Señora, n.d.). It is very large and visible from a distance. The gates were open, but the door was locked. So, I could not enter the basilica to see the inside. A lady asked me if the basilica was open, which means I was not the only one that wanted to get inside.

Next, I went to Parroquía de Santa Bárbara. This parish was commissioned by Queen Bárbara of Braganza in 1748 as a school for girls from noble families and as a potential retirement residence in the event where King Fernando 6th would die before her (Iglesia de Santa Bárbara (Convento de Las Salesas Reales), n.d.). After the deaths of the monarchs, both were buried in the mausoleum (Iglesia de Santa Bárbara (Convento de Las Salesas Reales), n.d.). The Tribunal Supremo controlled the building for a while, but it was converted back into a parish in 1891 (Iglesia de Santa Bárbara (Convento de Las Salesas Reales), n.d.). The parish is colored gray with no golden features and has a large but not giant spire. However, it does have many carvings and statues on its surface. The gates to the parish were locked and they even had spikes at the top, so I couldn’t get inside. The other thing I noticed is that there were many trees obscuring the view of the church, so it was hard to get a good picture of it. This makes some sense, as the parish is right next to the supreme court and there were guards patrolling the area as well.

I was able to see the Tribunal Supremo building as well.

I also looked at a bust of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and I appreciated a sign with a sense of humor.

Later, I went to Parroquía de San Manuel y San Benito. Benita Maurici and Manuel Caviggili were the patrons for the parish and it was constructed in the first decade of the 20th century (Iglesia Parroquial de San Manuel y San Benito, n.d.). They were both buried in the parish after its completion and it was built in the neo-Byzantine style by Fernando Arbós y Tremanti (Martín Larios, 2024). It stands out for its use of spires, the mosaics on the outside, and the large cross visible, and it is visible from Parque del Retiro. The parish’s gates were locked and they even had metal spikes at the bottom of the gate as well, so visitors were definitely not welcome outside of mass times. The good thing about this parish is that it is close to Puerta de Alcalá and Parque del Retiro.

The last church I went to was Catedral de la Almudena. Construction in the French neo-gothic style began with the designs of the Marqués of Cubas but the cathedral was not finished until 1993 (Martín Larios, 2024). Several members of nobility were buried in the cathedral including Mercedes, Queen of Spain, and Carmen Franco, 1st duchess of Franco (“Almudena Cathedral,” 2024). The cathedral is dark gray in color, but contains a few murals of scenes from the bible, and has statues of San Pedro and San Pablo. The cathedral was closed, but there was music and plenty of people outside sitting on the steps. Interestingly, the cathedral is right next to the royal palace, which explains why there were so many tourists there.

After that, I went back home, prepared for the hike on Saturday, had dinner, and went to bed.

Saturday, May 25th

Today, I went on a hike. I had to wake up at 6 am to get to Plaza de Castilla at 7:30 am. I met with Katie and Sophia from Accent and 4 students from Texas Christian University and their chaperone. We took a 2 and a half hour bus ride to the Guadarrama area and met the hiking guide Luís who was born in the Basque country and who had hiked the Pyrenees. It was a good thing I brought my boots because there were lots of loose rocks. It was harder hiking in Guadarrama than in Segovia but I felt less tired and never got out of breath. After the hike, I got some water and only until I got on the bus did I start to feel exhausted. When I got back to Yugo, I worked a little bit on my blog and then went to bed early. Overall, the hike was pretty fun and I got some great pictures.

Sunday, May 26th

Today, I decided to take it easy. First, I went to San Bruno church for the 10 am mass. Then, when I returned to Yugo, I started packing for the trip to Sevilla and made a list of things that I needed to put in my backpack on Monday. Then, I wrote up more of my blog. At 2 pm, I went to La Tahona bakery and got myself a croissant despite being a little disappointed that they didn't have any napolitanas. Later, I got some lunch and talked with some of the people that went to Alicante. Apparently, they spent a lot of time at the beach. After that, I went back to writing my blog.

Academic Analysis: Faith

After visiting several famous churches in Madrid, I have realized they have several things in common. Firstly, many were commissioned by nobility or rich people. They house the remains of important or powerful people, such as nobility but also talented artists like Francisco Goya. One of the reasons why rich people and nobility may have sponsored the construction of churches is that they would have had the right to be buried in the churches they sponsored. So, in a way, these people were making glorified graves for themselves before they died while also looking good in the process by helping out the community and the church. With exception to Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida which is technically a hermitage, the churches are closed to the public outside of mass times, many of their gates are locked, and some even have pointy spikes on the gates to intentionally keep people out. This is counterintuitive to my intuition. In the US, churches typically have community events outside of mass where people are allowed to come in. Lastly, most of these famous churches are quite large in size and all have some stunning architectural or artistic qualities which make them famous in the first place.