Almadén, Las Virtudes and Las Nieves, three jewels of bullfighting architecture in Ciudad Real - Lanza Digital - Lanza Digital

As we published on February 25, the province of Ciudad Real is the second in Spain in terms of the number of bullfights on foot held in 2019. It is not a small thing, since it is only surpassed, logically, by the community of Madrid, which has, among many other important fairs, the series of San Isidro, which alone hosts about thirty of this type of celebrations.

However, the province of La Mancha has many other relevant aspects related to bullfighting; ranches, bullfighters (bullfighters, bullfighters with and without picadores, banderilleros, picadores, horse stables, businessmen), bullfighting clubs... But today we will focus on the richness and architectural peculiarity of several of the bullfighting arenas in Ciudad Real, with the bullrings Las Virtudes (in Santa Cruz de Mudela), Almadén and the sanctuary of Las Nieves (in Almagro) as the most representative; three ancient arenas (two of them protected by religious worship, such as Las Nieves de Almagro and Las Virtudes) that combine a long history as well as beauty as unique buildings.

Almaden

According to the website of the Almadén town hall and other printed and digital publications, the construction of the Almadén bullring is closely linked to that of the San Rafael Royal Mining Hospital.

At the beginning of August 1752, the superintendent of the mines, whose name is not relevant in this text, in view of the frequent epidemics and the high mortality of the population and of the forced laborers who worked in the mines, proposed the foundation of the aforementioned Royal Hospital, a charitable event that is at the origin of the celebration of bullfighting shows in all parts of the world, together with the celebration of events of special significance, such as, for example, coronations, royal weddings or visits by foreign leaders to Spain.

These epidemics were motivated, among other causes, by the lack of housing to house the seasonal workers who worked in the mines. This fact led to the construction of 24 houses that made up -and make up- a peculiar hexagonal square, and which had a double purpose: to avoid overcrowding of neighbors in the houses of the town - 4 or 5 families per house -, which increased the risk of epidemics, as well as contributing, with the rental of the same, money for the construction of the Miners' Hospital.

The 24 houses, in turn, formed a square for the celebration of bullfights and was a meeting place for the population in general, with a capacity of about 4,000 people, also dedicating the income obtained in these celebrations to the construction of the Royal Hospital .

For the location of the bullring or "Plaza Nueva" the flattest and most suitable place was chosen, the site of the Iron Cross, in the threshing floors of the Villa Real road (currently Ciudad Real).

Once the "Plaza Nueva" was built, a minimum of six annual celebrations were established, with five or six bulls each, in order to obtain income for the construction of the hospital.

On April 4, 1753, all the interior and exterior walls up to the first floor were completed in order to celebrate the first celebrations. The works of the square were completely completed in 1765. Possibly the first celebrations held in the Plaza Nueva are those referring to October 1752, when 21 bulls were fought between the 19th, 21st and 23rd of that month.

The old houses are located on two floors surrounding the bullring, which is in turn formed by two high galleries, the lower one built in whitewashed arches and the upper one by uprights, footings and wooden braces. Completed its rehabilitation in 2003, and reopened in 2004 with a poster made up of Luis Francisco Esplá, Dávila Miura and Antón Cortés, with bulls by Mari Carmen Camacho. Bullfighting festivities are currently held at the end of July, and it also houses the Bullfighting Museum (with Joaquín Muñoz in charge of it), an exhibition hall, a Tourist Office, a restaurant and a hotel.

In the careful restoration completed in 2003, the original structure, the construction characteristics and the type of materials have been faithfully preserved.

It should be noted that the bullfighter who has performed the most walks in the Almadén bullring –there were 23 occasions- has been the remembered Teodoro Muñoz, who died in 2010; Almadenense, for more signs.

The virtues

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The Virtudes bullring is a square arena located in the municipality of the town of Santa Cruz de Mudela, about ten kilometers (by road) from the aforementioned town of La Mancha. According to a date that appears on the lintel of the Casa de la Pantry that gives access to the presidential box and other rooms in the bullring, it was built in 1641.

This hermitage-bullring complex, so common throughout Spain, on the other hand, was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1981, and since 2001 it has been part of the Union of Historic Bullrings along with other bullfighting arenas throughout the peninsula, including Almaden's.

According to tradition, the Virgin appeared to the shepherd Juan Domínguez one day in 1330 in the place where, a century later, a primitive hermitage was built, to which different rooms and architectural additions were later added, among which The House of the Pantry is also counted.

The bullring has the peculiarity of being square, although –as Segundo Cavanillas indicates in his reference work on bullfighting arenas in Ciudad Real “Las plazas de toros de la Ciudad Real province”- the barrier curves slightly at the internal vertices to avoid sharp angle. It also extols its image with an arcaded gallery in the style of the main square of Almagro and its beautiful Corral de Comedias. In fact, according to some authors, the bullring was also an occasional arena for theatrical performances and puppeteers.

Such a long-lived enclave has been the scene of different anecdotes. The aforementioned Segundo Cavanillas includes in his work the one that points to Rafael Molina “Lagartijo” (1841-1900) as the protagonist, who received a serious goring in this bullring and found himself in the situation of having to remain in one of the dependencies of the House of the Pantry for two weeks (specifically the room located to the right of the entrance door), until he was able to recover enough to take other courses and complete his recovery.

Antonio Bienvenida also experienced an episode between curious and dangerous, since he was in the position of, while facing the corresponding beef, having to avoid the onslaught of a second steer that jumped into the ring due to an oversight –apparently of an alcoholic nature - of the bullfighters of that celebration, which at the time was a festival for the benefit of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Virtues. In gratitude for not suffering a mishap, Bienvenida gave a cloak to the Virgin, in a double show of solidarity and generosity that has always characterized the bullfighting establishment; there are the countless festivities of all kinds that are held every year in bullfighting venues to attest to this.

There are two dates on which, traditionally, bullfights are celebrated in the arena of Las Virtudes: April 24 for San Marcos, and September 8, the feast of the Virgin. In recent years, this beautiful bullfighting venue has been the scene of all kinds of festivities, in which the figure of Emilio Huertas, bullfighter from Santa Cruz de Mudela, who took the alternative in 2013 in Manzanares, having made the paseo in Las Virtues as a bullfighter, bullfighter with and without picadores and, of course, as a bullfighter, with important triumphs, until he decided to put aside –we do not know if definitely- his bullfighting vocation in 2018.

The snows

8 kilometers from Almagro, taking the CM-4124 road, is the area where the serene sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves stands, whose bullring responds to the typology of bullfighting venues associated with sanctuaries.

Its construction, about which we will give details later, concluded in 1792, although its inauguration took place three years later. It has a polygonal plan with twelve irregular sides and establishes the union between the church and the farmhouse. Unfortunately, and like so many other buildings, the square was seriously damaged during the Spanish Civil War.

Before such a contest, the arena was surrounded by stone columns that supported footings on which the second corridor rested, covered by a roof on uprights with a wooden balustrade that had the same characteristics as the one existing in the Corral de Comedias de Almagro, which, as we can see, served as a model for both this arena and that of Las Virtudes. It is an irregularly shaped square attached to one of the sides of the buildings of the religious cult complex.

Arcadio Calvo Gómez, official chronicler of the city of Almagro, points out that Godoy drafted a Royal Order in order to demolish the hermitages lacking worship located in the countryside, a case that did not occur in the Santuario de las Nieves. “This hermitage is majestic and very decent, was financed at the expense of the Hon. Mr. Marquis of Santa Cruz, Álvaro de Bazán, following this illustrious House with its Board of Trustees, paying three chaplains who, with sufficient congruity, celebrate mass there every Sunday and on holidays, and on the festivities of Our Lady concurrent two three to sing to her with all solemnity . It has a very decent organ, ornaments and sacred vessels, and a sacristan who takes care of its cleanliness and cleanliness, without missing a lamp lit day and night.”

As for the bullring, it was built by the devotees of Almagro, and work began in 1761. Eight years later, Almagro residents contributed sixteen wooden carriages for the work. In the year 1771, "bullfighting and capeos" were already organized, although the bullfighting area would not be finished until 1773.

Two criteria led the Diputación de Nuestra Señora to build the bullring: to celebrate bullfights "for greater worship and magnificence... and at the same time to serve as shelter and acoxidation for the many people who come from the surrounding towns full of tenderness and devotion to visit to the Lady on every day of the year, as well as on her feast…”. Again religiosity and intensely linked bulls.

In 1832, specifically on August 27, the picador Cristóbal Ruiz, from the gang of the Cordovan aristocrat Rafael Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno -that's nothing- found the end of his -supposed- 82 years when he was broken neck by the action of the Morito bull , from the Bringas ranch, based in Villarrubia de los Ojos.

To conclude we will say that, even without being a fan of bullfighting, something that is as legitimate as being one, a visit to these enclaves is highly recommended. In fact, two of these arenas, Las Virtudes and Almadén, are open to the public, giving us the opportunity to go sightseeing and get to know these buildings, as well as the beautiful landscape that surrounds them.