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Home was last modified: July 11th, 2016 by Madrid No Frills

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Preserving Tetuán’s Neomudejar workers’ housing
3 December 2021
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27 October 2021

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Exactly one year ago, I pushed the @guardian to le

Exactly one year ago, I pushed the @guardian to let me publish a story about the electricity cuts in the Madrid barrio of the Cañada Real, when no other international publication was covering their situation. I hoped it would make a difference and, maybe it did somewhat. Yet here we are, one year on, and residents of Sectors 5 and 6 are facing a second winter in the cold and dark. But I'm going to keep pushing and so must we all!

Despite surviving without electricity, residents of the Cañada Real have managed to successfully organise and are pushing for systemic change. Simply, they want their electricity switched back on so that they can continue paying for it.

How can you help them do this?

👉🏾 Follow @plataformaluzcr.

✍🏾 Join @plataformaluzcr via their sign-up form on their website www.plataformaluz.com and offer up your skills, whatever they are.

✍🏾 Show your support for the work they're doing by signing their manifesto: link in the @plataformaluzcr website and here: https://tinyurl.com/5n8ydjtr

And finally...

✊🏾 Keep pushing for their story to be heard!

𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗻'𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝗼𝗺𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗷𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀' 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 🏘️

The creators of the grand and ornate red-brick buildings you can find all around Madrid are the same architects, builders and brick merchants who built the pretty little casas bajas in the barrios of Tetuán, Vallecas and Carabanchel.

Look closely at Las Ventas bullring, one of Madrid’s most famous examples of Moorish Revival architecture, and find the same intricate brickwork decorating little houses all around Madrid.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Madrid was in the process of becoming the expansive capital city she is today. Construction workers building the Neomudejar buildings in the city would take their skills to their own homes in the outskirts.

Equipped with ancient artisanal knowledge, they headed to the edge of the capital, which was then countryside, to build their own mini Neomudejar masterpieces. Little did they know that, in the process, the barrio of Tetuán would become an important part of Madrid’s history and a barrio that neighbours are fighting to preserve.

Over the years, owners of these one-storey self-built houses have passed away and their homes have been demolished to make way for multi-storey utilitarian residential blocks. Fortunately, around 100 original mini Neomudejar homes are still standing and there’s a neighbourhood association in the barrio fighting for them to be preserved.

By walking the streets, a group of around 40 neighbours have mapped more than 100 Neomudejar houses in Tetuán. They call themselves the Grupo de Protección del Patrimonio de Tetuán (Tetuán Heritage Protection Group) and you can find their map in my article (link in bio @madridnofrills) 🏘️📍🗺️

I took this shot yesterday evening from a friend's

I took this shot yesterday evening from a friend's community roof terrace, just minutes before the sun set over my barrio 🌇

I spent an hour up there on my own, just taking photo after photo as the colours evolved like this 🤍💛🧡❤️💖💜💙🖤 until the warm glow of people's tiny windows replaced the view and the lights of the greater city in the distance began to sparkle ✨

What I love about this photo is how it feels frozen in time. Beyond the sinking terracotta roofs, you can see how close the countryside is, which has always been there. And the retro TV aerials which probably only the abueles still use, and the satellite dishes all pointing in the same direction: south, to pick up Senegalese, Bangladeshi and Latin American TV.

💒 That's the bell tower of Iglesia San Lorenzo in the middle there, right in the heart of Lavapiés's densest cluster of bars. It was already getting busy down there but, up here, you couldn't hear a thing, maybe for the flap of pigeons' wings and the creek of TV aerials as they landed to perch!

I wasn't planning on launching any more new prints this season but how could I not include this one! I call it...

"De Lavapiés al Cielo" (From Lavapiés to the Sky) 🌇✨

If you'd like a print, just send me an email with your size and delivery or pickup options! Print is available in the following sizes:

🖼️ A4: €25
🖼️ A3: €35

📮 Postage is global, pick-up is free, handed over by me, Leah! 🙋🏾‍♀️

📦 All materials and printing is done locally in my barrio, Lavapiés, and postage (optional tracking) is with Spain's State postal service @correos.

🌪️ Orders can be processed and ready within just three days of payment!

📨 To make an order, simply email me, Leah, at hola@madridnofrills.com with the size and print you want!

🖼️ Explore all my other prints by visiting the link in my bio @madridnofrills!

❤️ All profits made from the sale of my prints go directly into Madrid No Frills, allowing me to spend even more time researching, investigating and telling the stories that matter! If you've ever thought about showing your support for the work that I do, here's a really fun way to do it! 🥰

The Christmas print sales are coming in and yet th

The Christmas print sales are coming in and yet the Little Lion of Lavapiés remains a favourite! 😻

I stumbled across the Little Lion of Lavapiés a few years ago while walking home. When I spotted him staring right at me, quiet as mouse, my heart both skipped a beat and exploded at the same time! ❤️

If you'd like a print of this Little Lion, just send me an email with your size and delivery or pickup options! Print is available in the following sizes:

🖼️ A4: €25
🖼️ A3: €35

📮 Postage is global, pick-up is free, handed over by me, Leah! 🙋🏾‍♀️

📦 All materials and printing is done locally in my barrio, Lavapiés, and postage (optional tracking) is with Spain's State postal service @correos.

🌪️ Orders can be processed and ready within just three days of payment!

📨 To make an order, simply email me, Leah, at hola@madridnofrills.com with the size and print you want!

🖼️ Explore all my other prints by visiting the link in my bio @madridnofrills!

❤️ All profits made from the sale of my prints go directly into Madrid No Frills, allowing me to spend even more time researching, investigating and telling the stories that matter! If you've ever thought about showing your support for the work that I do, here's a really fun way to do it! 🥰

🎁 Shopping for Madrid Christmas gifts? Meet "Pe

🎁 Shopping for Madrid Christmas gifts? Meet "Perri en la Puerta" 🐕🚪💕

I love this typical Madrid scene: a doggy hanging out in a no-frills bar, especially one as beautiful as this one!

My "Perri en la Puerta" print is available in:

🖼️ A4 (210 X 210 mm): €25
🖼️ A3 (297 X 297 mm): €35
🖼️ A2 (420 X 420 mm): €45

🐕 Perrie en la Puerta is printed on gloss photo paper right up to the edge, but a white rim can also be requested!

📮 Postage is global, pick-up is free, handed over by me, Leah! 🙋🏾‍♀️

📦 All materials and printing is done locally in my barrio, Lavapiés, and postage (optional tracking) is with Spain's State postal service @correos.

🌪️ Orders can be processed and ready within just three days of payment!

📨 To make an order, simply email me, Leah, at hola@madridnofrills.com with the size and print you want!

🖼️ Explore all my other prints by visiting the link in my bio @madridnofrills!

❤️ All profits made from the sale of my prints go directly into Madrid No Frills, allowing me to spend even more time researching, investigating and telling the stories that matter! If you've ever thought about showing your support for the work that I do, here's a really fun way to do it! 🥰

🌹 Don Justo Gallego, one of Spain’s greatest

🌹 Don Justo Gallego, one of Spain’s greatest and most overlooked Outsider Artists, passed away in the early hours of this morning, age 96.

Cast out of his monastery at the age of 27 after contracting tuberculosis, the young monk decided to dedicate the rest of his life to building his own cathedral. Today, it stands taller than most churches, is more colourful than a field of flowers and is a magnificent specimen of religious architecture that rose from ordinary farmland.

Justo Gallego Martínez was born in Mejorada del Campo in 1925. As a child, he witnessed the horrors of the Spanish Civil War in which countless priests were slaughtered and their churches burnt to the ground. Some years later, this experience would be instrumental in leading him to join a monastery.

In his youth, Justo devoted himself to the Trappist movement, eating a strict vegetarian diet and speaking only when absolutely necessary. After just eight years inside the monastery, however, Justo contracted tuberculosis and was forced to leave.

After he recovered, his request to re-join the monastery was refused. This led him to rebel and build his own cathedral, for he was determined – one way or another – to devote his life to Our Lady of Pilar, the saint he prayed to throughout his recovery. In 1961, he set to work on Nuestra Señora del Pilar, known locally as Catedral Don Justo.

Something unique about his cathedral is that its design has been shaped almost entirely by the materials and tools that Don Justo either found lying around or received as donations. No plans were drawn up before construction began, it is a spontaneous work of art.

During almost 60 years of construction work, Don Justo never managed to obtain a permit to build his cathedral. Despite help from family, architects and volunteers over the years, the cathedral was never certified as a sound construction and was set for demolition.

By some miracle, just a few weeks ago, his cathedral finally received permission. Don Justo lived just long enough to know that his life’s ambition and dream would, one day, be completed and, even if he will never see this happen, he rests in peace knowing it will ⛪🌹

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