The atmosphere of its streets, the lighting of the time, the nougat stalls,
children throwing snowballs
or glued to the windows of toy stores... A virtual walk through Madrid
's Decembers between 1930 and 1970
is now possible thanks to an exhibition of 86 images belonging to the photographic funds kept in the Regional Archive and the Madrileños collection.
Baptized as
Madrid at Christmas
, anyone who wants to can see and download these prints that
reflect the typical traditions of these holidays
through the Community Archives Portal.
The exhibition, which is divided into five sections, begins with one entitled
Lights, Christmas carols and bonuses
: in it, everything from families looking for tambourines in the stalls in the Plaza Mayor to children and teenagers putting on their particular soundtrack while
playing zambombas and tambourines. .
The second chapter is
To Bethlehem shepherds!
, which offers images of all kinds of nativity scenes: from the monumental ones on the façade of the Galerías Preciados building (1953) and in the Plaza de Santa Ana (1964), to the elaborate montages in the arcades of the Plaza de las Descalzas (1973 ) or the Plaza de la Villa (1960), going through the most improbable ones such as
the one installed on the occasion of the arrival of man on the moon
(1969) or a very original one in a Seat 600 (1966).
Nativity scene carried by two astronauts located in the Plaza de Santa Ana, in 1969.MS YUBERO
This exhibition exclusively dedicates a section, the third, to the celebration of the Christmas Lottery draw, under the title
Tomorrow comes out
, in homage to the copla that the teachers
Quintero, León and Quiroga wrote to doña Manolita
and that Concha Piquer sang .
It is just the figure of this woman, Manuela de Pablo, who would become
the lottery par excellence of the Villa y Corte
for the many prizes she distributed, another of the protagonists of the exhibition.
An image by Martín Santos Yubero from 1948 and another by Nicolás Muller from 1950 immortalize her walking down the street and at the counter of her business.
The fourth block is
Christmas Eve dinner
, a tradition that dates back to the fourth century, when Pope Julius I established December 25 as the day of Jesus' birth.
The images in this section show the typical food on the menu for the most important evening of the year.
Also snapshots of the interior of well-
known grocery stores, turkey
and pheasant stalls, the best-known workshops in Madrid or the impressive Christmas baskets that Casa Carrasco employees show.
This virtual exhibition closes with the section
The Three Wise Men are coming!
, the favorite celebration for benjamines of the house.
Through the images of the Regional Archive funds, it is possible to see how the children of the time posed together with Their Majesties of the East in the parades or infants
opening, on their beds, the gifts
that they had left the night before.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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