Importing Galician culture to Jerez: a couple’s “life project”

Both remember, in conversation with ABC, the beginnings of their story, one that from the beginning “has a lot to do with books.” Both graduated in Art History at USC, they were one of the first classes of the degree. And, upon finishing it, when they were just over twenty years old, they were offered the opportunity to write a book about the monastery of San Martiño. But with one condition: “without putting anything bad about the Church”; a delicate issue due to the uses that the temple had had, used as a hiding place for fugitives during the Civil War. “That work as historians was very interesting, but we thought: if we can’t tell the truth, we won’t make the book.” It is the project that you now see carried out, but that would come after decades of dedication to other jobs.

At first, both went to Jaén, the land of Antonio’s ancestry, in search of work, and some time later they went to Puerto de Santa María. They reside there today, a short distance from Jerez, Where is the publishing house? “Then we had two girls and we always dreamed of returning, but of course, they grew up,” and also their attachment to their homeland. Even so, Loli never forgot her connection with Galicia nor neglected her bond with her family, resident in the parish of Santa Icía, in Narón.

While they lived there, in the south, contact with Peripecias came when Antonio decided to publish a book of iconography and They offered him the opportunity to join to the team. Once inside, he “always” championed “a non-localist character”, despite being a local firm. The first book they published in Galician –in a bilingual edition that incorporated its translation into Spanish–, he recalls, was a collection of poems by Francisco Álvarez-Koki.

Books and songs

Some time later, speaking with the singer-songwriter be in Spanish. But once again, Antonio rejected that the work was detached from its original language. «I told him that it could not be published only in Spanish, because he had written it in Galician. And it occurred to us that, instead of interspersing [los idiomas] In the bilingual edition, we could edit it in Galician on one side, and have it appear in Spanish on the other when we turned it over. It turned out to be a very easy book to read, very beautiful,” he reviews. In fact, this year they organized a Rubia concert in Jerez, taking advantage of her presentation. So, through Peripecias, the coupleNot only has he imported a little of the literature of Galicia; also of his music.

«In this way, we want to be a bit of the ambassadors of Galician culture in Cádiz, in Jerez. We don’t want to brag about anything, simply make Galician culture a little more universal.” Antonio reflects. They live the publication of their book about San Martiño as “a dream.” The project had been paralyzed for years, but they were clear that they wanted to undertake it. «When the circumstance came that Antonio had the publishing house, the right moment arrived. “We had time and we had no censorship.” unlike years ago, says Loli. Antonio completes his explanation: «We had to publish it [para] that Galician culture was also known in Jerez. The monastery was, in the 12th century, one of the most important in Galicia and even in Spain, because it is one of the first to join the Order of Cluny; and it came to be used among kings as an exchange. And, more than that, I think it is important to highlight the importance of the monastery and its universal iconographic program throughout Spain.

A temple linked to them

«For us it is a bit of the work of our life. Although it is not the first one we published, it is the one we had been thinking about for many years, the one we wanted to do. The idea arose a couple of years ago, when Xoán Rubia told us why not do an article on the subject to publish in magazines. “We started digging and saw that it was a much longer, more important iconographic program than we thought.” Antonio tells it. Thus they set out to make that book that they had wanted “forever.”

For Loli, the achievement of this work has a double aspect: the monastery will always be linked to her “life”, to her “memories”. «It’s my childhood. I went there with my mother. Here we do not know it by San Martiño de Xuvia, but by O Couto or O Convento; “That’s what he always calls him,” he shares. He is grateful “in a very special way” to be able to experience this achievement with her. «He taught me to remember all these things. And I think that is heritage: At the end of the day, preserving that church is preserving the memory of many people; among others, mine,” he resolves. «It must also be valued by all the surrounding residents, who are united to it. There are stories of the Civil War, of escapees, that they told my mother and that I also learned from other places (…). It is in the memory of many who still live. Still, he says, there is history to be unearthed.