06052019 - La Dama de Elche

This morning we went to Elche to do a bit of shopping. I decided to walk to this roundabout to take a picture of the replica of a very important statue found in Elche. 

This is from Visit Elche website about Dama de Elche (Editors note: Sorry for the English on the website. It's sometimes very hard to comprehend.) :
The Lady of Elche, found in La Alcudia (in Elche), is one of the most famous sculptures in the world. Currently it is kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. (Editors note: Elche would like to have it back to Elche and are trying to achieve that through court.)

On Wednesday the 4th August (Editors note:1897), a fourteen-years-old boy, Manuel Campello found a stone. When he removed it, a face bust showed up.

The sale
The 11th August arrived to the city the french archaeologist Pierre Paris to attend to the performances of the Misteri, invited by the municipal archivist and chronicler Pedro Ibarra. Finally the bust was sold for 5,200 pesetas. (Editors note: the bust was showing in Louvre.)

Back to Spain
After its short time in Elche in 1965, for 14 days because of an exhibition of Iberian culture, the Lady was moved to the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. Due to the inauguration of the MAHE ( Archaeological and History Museum of Elche ), the bust was almost six months back to its hometown, where the Lady of Elche was valued at 15 million euros, for the insurance.

The sculpture
The origin of the stone indicates that the sculpture was made in La Alcudia, the author could have been both a foreign, Iberian or a sculptor.

The Lady of Elche is a bust cut in sandstone from the local quarry “Danger”. When the bust was found, it preserved traces of red, blue and white paint decorating her lips, the mantilla and the mantle.

She is 56-centimetre-height and the perimeter of her shoulders and chest 115 cm, actual size proportions. In her back it is seen a cavity of 18 cm in diameter and 16 in depth, whose purpose is still unknown."

If you are in Elche you are bound to see Dama de Elche in many works of art.

After Elche we came home to have some coffees and take the dogs out and then we headed out to the beach. I was hoping to have a swim, but the wind was too cold. It just made the whole thing too chilly. I was fine just laying on the sand, but when my feet touched the water, boy was it cool.

Temps are up from day after tomorrow (up tp 26°C) so I'll have new opportunities if the winds will finally die a bit. Finally the summer is getting closer!