June 2013 - Novelda

Our good friends Chris and Martin O'Malley took us out for the day to the fairly local town of Novelda. The main attraction there is just outside the town and it is a beautiful church built in the style of Gaudi. It was designed by one of his pupils.

 

We were greeted by the gardener who opened the church up for us and turned on the organ demonstration. The area is famous for its marble and the organ pipes are all made from this substance. It will be many years before the organ is completed as they need to raise about a million euros for the church before they will have enough money to complete everything.



The empty organ loft awaiting its marble organ pipes

A local cyclist came into the church whilst we were visiting and very kindly gave us the full history of the church and explained the significance of some of the designs on the outside of the church and above the entrances.


 The Reception Rooms available for weddings

 Very simple stained glass windows

A stone commemorating the churches completion

We went down into the town to visit the Modernist Museum and Art Gallery but found that it is closed on Mondays. (Another visit?).

The town is a lovely place and is just how I imagined Spanish towns to look. We are a bit disapointed with how they look on the coast as they have been expanded by new houses so it was refreshing to see a typical old style Spanish town with its churches and Casino. As explained earlier, the Casino is a meeting place, not a place for gambling.


The town centre



Jorge Juan, patron of the town



Casino gardens



Casino entrance

 We will be returning to Novelda to see the Museum later in the year.

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