08/10/2003
08/10/2003 "Old stories. Old? What are seventy short years compared with seven long centuries of Santa Maria Cathedral presiding over the life of this endearing community, this "big family" which is my hometown? How many generations have gazed at it in search of the reason for existence, for their daily chores and their dreams?"
Cayo Luis Vea-Murguía, columnist on the life of Vitoria-Gasteiz, summarises in this way the feelings of the people who have participated in the birth of "Old stories of the Old Cathedral". This book, published by the Santa Maria Cathedral Foundation in cooperation with the Provincial Government of Alava, represents a re-encounter with the more human side of the history of this old Vitorian temple.
The seventeen testimonies and the hundred photographs in the book represent the starting point in recovering the vivid memory, the experiences in black and white of thousands of vitorians for whom the Old Cathedral is a reference point in their lives.
"Old stories of the Old Cathedral" brings together the experiences in first person of old soprano singers, alter boys, neighbours and chroniclers of the city for whom Santa Maria has been a reference point in their lives since they were children. Throughout the 112 pages you can pick up tender amusing anecdotes, mostly from childhood, experiences, feelings and emotions.
Giving their accounts in the book are Pablo Alejo Rubio, Jesús Daubagna, Venancio del Val, Jesús Fernández de Jáuregui, Félix González, Joaquín Jiménez, José Ignacio Lafuente, Félix Martín Latorre, José Manuel Lasarte, Ignacio Larrañaga, Antxon Lete, Julio Martín Zubillaga, Juan José Ortiz de Mendívil, José María Pérez Ugarte, José María Sedano, Cayo Luis Vea-Murguía and Itoiz Urreta.
How to buy
The Santa Maria Cathedral Foundation has published a total of 3000 copies
in a good quality edition. The testimonies are accompanied by a hundred
photographs, mostly of great value as they belong, among others, to the
collections of Alberto Schommer Koch, Gerardo López de Guereñu,
Gudiol, Archives of the Historical Territory of Alava and the Municipal
Archives of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in addition to those contributed by the protagonists
of the book.
Persons interested in the book "Old stories of the Old Cathedral" can buy it for fifteen Euros at the main bookshops in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Arriaga, Aukera, Ayala, Biblos, La Casa del Libro and Study), at the Visitors´ Centre in the Cathedral of Santa Maria or by telephone on 945 12 21 60 or 945 25 51 35.