QUEEN SOFIA OF SPAIN WITH PO AND DE DE, THE PANDAS TWINS CUBS

Po and De De, the two pandas twins (both males) who were born in Madrid Zoo Aquarium last September 7th, 2010 where they were conceived through artificial insemination in a joint effort by Spain’s National Research council and scientists from China, received a especial visitor this week at the zoo for their first ride outside. They are the first offspring for their mother Hua Zui Ba with partner Bing Xing, arrived in Madrid in 2007 on a 10 year loan from China and in four years the twins pandas will be transferred to China in Chengdu, where they will live in freedom with other 1,600 congeners.

Since the twins were born they have been protected in an enclosure where they could only be seen through a glass, but now that they are 7 months and weigh around 12 kilos, zoo managers have decided that it is time they begin to take their first rides on the outside. And in this first official tour they had a very especial guest: Queen Sofia of Spain, who visited them for the first time when they were born and was very excited to have so close to these gentle animals but now, in her second visit they were a bit apprehensive with her but later began to play and they even bite her once.

 

These are some photos of Queen's

first visit to the twins babies

Po and De De (whose Chinese name means "innocent nature" and "Madrid") are the only panda twins born in captivity, something very difficult to achieve in this endangered species, as mothers raise their children one by one and when two are born one of them dies. Currently there is only a baby panda in Vienna Zoo, but Madrid Zoo is the only one where you can see two pandas brothers.

The Zoo Aquarium in Madrid is considered as one of the most important institutions because of its commitment to conservation. And before Po and De De were born there was another famous panda in the zoo in Madrid, called Chulin, who was the first born in captivity outside of China until he died in 1996, he was the most beloved animal by visitors to the Madrid Zoo.

Aren't they cute?

MUSEO CARMEN THYSSEN MALAGA, UNIQUE IN THE WORLD WITH A FEMALE NAME

Carmen Thyssen Museum was opened on March 24th in Malaga city (in Andalucia region), which houses 230 paintings by great Spanish painters, especially Andalusian painters from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Baroness Thyssen (widowed to Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza)  has given the paintings free of charge, for a period of 15 years.

These works have been bought by herself at different auctions in New York, London and other big cities and she has said that she has chosen them for this museum because of their beauty and quality. Each painting has a story and reflects on what she felt the first time she saw them. She admits that it was too selfish to keep them only to be admired by herself.

This museum is the only one in the world dedicated to the great Spanish painters from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, among them: Sorolla, Zuloaga, Madrazo, Regoyos, Julio Romero de Torres, Fortuny, Moreno Carboneras, Canals, Casas, Iturrino, Lopez Mezquita, Urgell, Degrain, Meifren, Gomez Gil and others. And the styles range from paintings of old masters to Romantic painting, manners, natural and modern.

Also the Baroness is proud because this is the only museum in the world with a woman's name, and also a typical Spanish name such as Carmen.

The Museum is housed in a beautiful building, the Palacio de Villalón and has an area of 5,185 meters square, which will be divided into four floors, three for the permanent exhibition and one for temporary exhibitions. These exhibitions will be held three times a year and will start next April with one about Picasso.

The opening of this museum comes after she and the Baron Thyssen opened in 1992, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, a wide selection of the private collection of this family, over 7 decades and ranging from the Gothic-style until the eighthies, which together with the Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofia Museum, makes the so-called Golden Triangle in Madrid.

After this new museum in Malaga, the Baroness has still one more dream to fulfill and it is to open the Museum of San Feliu de Guixols (Gerona), where Baroness lives (she was born in Barcelona), which mainly will be dedicated to Catalan painters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

These are some of the paintings which could be seen in this Museum:

"Julia" by Ramón Casas,

Carmen Cervera especially loves this painting

because the woman painted in it

(who was, by the way, the painter's girlfriend)

recalls her as her own mother

"Rocas de Javea y el bote blanco" by Joaquin Sorolla

"La buenaventura" by Julio Romero de Torres

Ricard Canals

"Santa Marina" by Francisco de Zurbarán

"Corrida de toros en Eibar" by Ignacio Zuloaga

And this is the Museum link website (clicking on the name): Museo Carmen Thyssen Malaga.

Of course, the opening of this new museum in Malaga (where Picasso and actor Antonio Banderas were born, by the way) will be a good reason else to visit the beautiful city of Malaga, where I spent a short holidays a few years ago and would not mind returning again, even to visit this new Museum!

Sources:  photographs and information were taken from the internet and Hello magazine.

THE FALLAS VALENCIANAS CELEBRATION, A GREAT OUTBURST OF LIGHTS AND FIRE

The Fallas are a Valencian traditional celebration in praise of Saint Joseph (the patron saint of carpenters) in Valencia, Spain (in the middle of the Mediterranean coast). They celebrate the final days of the winter and the arrival of spring with spectacular fires and pyrotechnics.

The term "Fallas" refers to both the celebration and the monuments created during this celebration and it means "fire", "torches". It is Valencia's most international festival. From March 15 to 19th (the feast of Saint Joseph) the city fills with huge cardboard monuments called "ninots" (these are as puppets or dolls), for a competition that is marked by art, ingenuity and good taste.

There are different theories regarding the origin of the Falles Festival, One of them suggests that the Fallas started in the Middle Ages, when artisans put out their broken artifacts and pieces of wood that they sorted during the winter then burnt them to celebrate the spring equinox. At first they would make them look like human forms by decorating them with old clothes, in the mid 19th century they began to increase in size and height and to improve their forms, becoming huge decorative statues (some of them are created in excess of 30 meters).

During Fallas many people dress in the regional and Valencian costumes from different eras of Valencia's history, mainly in medieval clothing.

Most Valencian people...... dress up in Fallas Celebration

The "ninots" and their "fallas" are developed according to an agreed upon theme that was and continues to be a satirical jab at anything or anyone unlucky enough to draw the attention of the critical eyes of the fallers (the celebrants themselves).

Footballer Iker Casillas and

his journalist girlfriend, Sara Carbonero

Each day of Fallas week begins at 5 am with "la despertá" (the wake up call). Brass bands appear from the casals and begin to march down every road playing lively music.

yummy "buñuelos" (fritters) with hot chocolate

The "mascletá" is an explosive display of coordinated firecracker and fireworks barrages, that takes place in each neighbourhood at 2 pm every day of the festival, the main one takes place in the County Hall square.

There is also an offering of flowers to the Virgin, that occurs all day on the days 17th and 18th of March. The Virgin's body is then built with these flowers. They create a mountain of flowers 14 metres high.

And on the final night of Fallas, around midnight on March 19th, all the "Fallas" are burnt as huge bonfires and this is known as the "Cremá" (the burning) and this is of course the climax of the whole event  and the reason why the constructions are called "fallas" . The "Cremá" is a fascinating spectacle of light, music and fireworks. All of the fallas are burnt except one ninot which, elected by a popular vote, is saved from the flames to form part of the collection at the Fallero Museum (the local Museum of ninots).

Undoubtedly the Fallas is one of the most unique and amazing festivals in Spain. I have to admit that I have never been to these celebration, but I have promised myself I'll go to visit it one of these years, though when I go I will remember to take with me a big box of earplugs!