Juan Díaz de Garayo was a 19th century Alava man who raped, strangled, murdered and eviscerated at least six women on the outskirts of Vitoria. Thus he became one of the men who earned the nickname ‘Sacamantecas’ and gained a privileged position in the imagination with which children were terrorized at night. Another executioner put an end to his life, in that case with the vile club. Now, the request from the ‘Sacamantecas’ production company to record some scenes of the film – directed by David Pérez Sañudo and with Antonio de la Torre in the lead role – which portrays the life of the murderer in the city’s Santa María cathedral It has opened a gap between the Bishopric and the institutions. Pending a meeting scheduled for next Wednesday, the Bishopric has not yet opened up about giving up the cathedral, which has sparked criticism from both the deputy general of the province and the mayor of the city.
At the end of last week, the mayor, Maider Etxebarria, already pointed out to the Bishopric for the lack of agreement to access the cameras to the Cathedral of Santa María, the oldest of the two that exist in the city. “I find it absolutely regrettable and is contrary to our strategy. I show my anger and my disagreement, and demand that the Diocese explain what is happening. We have been working for a long time to make Vitoria visible as a filming set. If the temples are of great cultural and tourist interest, we have to promote them,” the first mayor expressed then. The cast headed by Antonio de la Torre, Patricia López Arnaiz and Josean Bengoetxea has already been filming the script written by David Pérez Sañudo and Sergio Granda in other locations in the city and the province. On more than one occasion, the presence of up to three thousand extras has been required who do not have hairstyles that could contrast too much with past eras.
According to the chronology drawn from the Bishopric, it was months ago when Amania Films, the production company, contacted and approached the dean of the Cathedral of Santa María to ask for the use of the building for the recording of some scenes. “The dean does not allow himself to be a parish priest and he said that he deals with liturgical issues and that he cannot authorize extraliturgical uses,” they explain from the Bishopric. The only thing that was requested, they say, is the arrangement of a meeting to address the issue of the recording and the context, as well as to put some conditions in black and white. But, first of all, without vetoes. “As has been done with other films that have been recorded in other facilities of the diocese. There has not been any veto since we were officially asked,” they add, and point out that in the last six or seven years, since the current channels existed, there has not been any veto. They point to the big screen adaptation of ‘The Silence of the White City’ as an example of a “blockbuster” that has been filmed without problems.
The first disagreement occurred when the production company proposed recording in the parish of San Miguel, from whose tower Celedón hangs to begin the festivities of the Virgen Blanca every August 4. “We told them it couldn’t be because they wanted to have the church to themselves for seven days and masses are celebrated there every day, even two a day during the weekend. The main use is religious,” they emphasize. And it is an idea that they repeat over and over again: liturgical uses take precedence over everything else, since these buildings were conceived for them. “But it is not a no, we propose more alternatives,” they clarify. Which is it? Among that range of options is the church of San Juan Bautista de Salvatierra-Agurain. “It is much more impressive, much larger than St. Mary’s Cathedral. While that of Santa María was born as a collegiate church, the other was aimed at a cathedral. It has three naves,” they praise from the Bishopric. They also maintain that the producer made a visit with the priest and expressed her satisfaction, although everything remained there, on pause and waiting for the meeting on December 4.
It was then that the mayor, in the words of the Bishopric, “said what she said.” These statements were added this Wednesday by those of Ramiro González, deputy general of Álava. “The institutions are contributing very important amounts to the maintenance of religious heritage. These investments are a very considerable effort for Alava society, and that effort must revert to society as a whole. There has to be a religious use, but also a cultural one,” he alleged. The general deputy has estimated the amount paid to the Cathedral of Santa María for rehabilitation work at 50 million euros and now demands that the “wonderful buildings maintained with public money” throughout the city can be given other uses beyond the religious.
“We do not veto, we present our options,” the Bishopric defends. “We simply see the alternatives that exist. And that there is compatibility with liturgical uses, which is the main thing and what the Bishopric has to ensure. We are the first interested in making religious heritage known not only here among the neighbors, but also on the big screen and on television. We don’t put any veto, but the owner will have something to say,” they hide.
All this happens in parallel to the transfer by the Diocese of Vitoria of the church of San Francisco de Asís in the Zaramaga neighborhood for the installation of a tribute to the victims of the shooting of March 3, 1976, which left five killed and dozens injured. With the foundation already established to carry out the project, 2026 is estimated – when it will be 50 years since the dissolution of a workers’ assembly by shots from the Armed Police of the dictatorship – as the reference date for the doors of the Memorial to open. .
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