Those of you that have seen the movie, “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen, may recall a fascinating piece of artwork on the big screen. There is a scene where Tom (Sheen) and his walking companion, Jost, from Amsterdam, stop at a sheet metal sculpture of pilgrims in various historical poses. Even though the movie doesn’t spend much time there, the scene is captivating in it’s beauty.
The windy hill upon which the sculptured work sits is just west of Pamplona, Spain, the city famous for the running of the bulls each year. The hill is dotted with gigantic, modern day, windmills. The company that installed them, EHN, commissioned the artwork to the artist, Vicente Galbete.
In my next book, A Few More Zeroes, I mention how impressed I was with the art piece and wanted to know more about it. As powerful as the Internet can be at times, I could not track down Mr. Galbete. I posted something on a forum about the Camino de Santiago and a few days ago, I received an email, in Spanish, with a Google Translate copy of the message in English. Mr. Galbete doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Spanish, and yet we have been communicating these past few days, albeit with rough translations. How cool is that!
I’ve asked him about other works, and he has sent me a few links to web sites that have some of his other creations. Have a look and enjoy them.
Vicente Galbete plaque at an endurance running event at Roncevalle:
The plaque at the running event:
Vicente Galbete work at Eneriz, in the plaza:
http://www.ayuntamiento.es/eneriz
Here is a closeup of that work:
https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/53421297.jpg
The Eneriz piece is particularly noteworth at night. He tells me it has a powerful light in it and displays various heavenly bodies around the piece. This would be a must see on my next visit to Spain.
Another of his works is on a flickr.com site. In Spanish it is:
Al paso de Abderramán
Monumento existente en el parque eólico de Moncayuelo.
Which translates:
At the Abderramán pass.
Monument at the wind farm in Moncayuelo.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramtag/191658
Enjoy everyone.