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MUSEUMS

What’s On in Sweden: December 25th – 31st

What’s on in Sweden: Choral Christmas in Stockholm, a New Year's Eve run in Gothenburg and get your skates on in Malmö.

Published: 23 December 2009 20:59 CET

STOCKHOLM

Christmas Songs and Psalms

St Jacob’s Chamber and Youth choirs stretch their vocal chords. It is Christmas, after all!

Price: 60-175 kronor

Location:St Jacobs Kyrka

Date: 26th December

Time: 3pm

More information: St Jacob’s Church

Dockteatern Tittut

Up and Go (Upp och Gå). Puppet theatre (in Swedish) for 3-6 year olds

Price:80 kronor

Location: Dockteatern Tittut, Lundagatan 33

Date: 26th-30th December

Time: 11am and 1pm

More information: Tittut

Raving ’89

Acclaimed British photographer Gavin Watson’s exhibition of the rave scene

Price: Free

Location: Fargfabriken, Lövholmsbrinken, 1

Date: 19th December – 3rd January

Time: Wednesday-Sunday 11am to 4pm

More information: Fargfabriken

Yes! and Barracuda Christmas Bash

Yes! Sound system feat. Jayzon, DJ Salla, Don Dada and more. Somewhere between the rainforest and concrete jungle.. Hip Hop/RnB

Price:130/150 kronor

Location: Mosebacke Etablissement

Date: 25th December

Time: 9pm

More information: I Love Yes!

Slick New Year Party

Klubb Slick are back to see in the New Year

Price: 160/200 kronor

Location: Kägelbanan

Date: 31st December

Time: 10pm

More information: Slick

GOTHENBURG

Christmas with The Percivals

The Percivals invite you to join them with their own variety of 60’s mixed with noughties music.

Price: 60 kronor

Location: Storan, Kungsparken,1

Date: 25th December

Time: 10pm

More information: The Percivals

Jazzå

Sunday Jazz, baby! Live jazz, cold beer, relaxed, jazzy atmos. Yeah.

Price: 70 kronor

Location: Jazzå, Andra Långgatan, 4B

Time: 8pm

Date: 27th December

More information: Jazzå

Sylvesterloppet

Last chance to fulfill last year’s resolution to ‘do more exercise’. Or you could just watch the runners.

Location: Central Gothenburg

Date: 31st December

Time: Midday

More information: Sylverster Loppet

New Year on Götaplatsten

Countdown to 2010 with Gothenburgers galore

Location: Götaplatsen

Time: 11.30pm

More information: Nyårsfirande

MALMÖ

Stortorget

Christmas Day on Stortorget. Ride the Ferris Wheel with views over the city or skate on the open air ice rink!

Location: Stortorget

Date: To end of January 2010

More information: Malmö Wheel

Electronic Soundclash

Inkonst presents a night of electronica for the 7th Christmas Day in a row. As traditional as Kalle Anka.

Price: 150 kronor

Location: Inkonst

Date: 25th December

Time: 11pm – 3am

More information: Inkonst

Cool Yule at The Toy Museum

A ‘tipspromenad’ for kids aged 2-15. All entrants are guaranteed a prize!

Location: Malmö Leksaks Museum

Time: 11am

Date: 26th-30th December

More information: Toy Museum

Debaser

Happiness Live and Jackson 5 Almost Live

Price:150 – 450 kronor

Location: Debaser

Date: New Year’s Eve

Time: 7pm – 3am

More information: Debaser

Do you know of any upcoming events our readers might like to attend? Drop us a line at [email protected]

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MADRID

Spain’s scrap cathedral: A monk’s 60-year self-build labour of faith and devotion

About 20 km east of Madrid, in the small town of Mejorada del Campo, stands a building that testifies to a former monk's lifetime of devotion to the Catholic faith. Paul Burge explores the Don Justo Cathedral, a religious edifice like no other.

Published: 19 January 2021 11:38 CET
Spain's scrap cathedral: A monk's 60-year self-build labour of faith and devotion
Don Justo's Cathedral in Mejorada del Campo, Madrid. Photos: Paul Burge

The structure has been built by 95-year-old former monk, Don Justo Gallego Martinez, using nothing but recycled, scavenged and donated materials giving the building chaotic, eclectic and perplexing, if not impressive style.


Don Justo pictured here at the age of 73 in August 1999. Archive photo: AFP

Visitors are free to explore, stepping over bags of cement, buckets and tools which are strewn across the two-floor monument. Downstairs there is a shrine to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. Chillingly Don Justo has already also dug his own grave in the basement, where he will finally be laid to rest at the heart of his labour of faith and devotion.

Don Justo, as he is known, is 95 years old. The cathedral still needs at least ten years' work, years that its creator simply doesn’t have. Yet, such is his devotion that he still works on its construction every day, except on Sundays of course. You may catch a glimpse of him in his dusty blue overalls, white shirt and trademark red beret. But as the notices pinned to the wall advise, he is not open to speaking to members of the public.

What inspired Don Justo to build it?

After eight years in a Trappist order at Soria‘s Santa Maria de la Huerta monastery, Don Justo Gallego Martinez was ordered to leave, for fear of infecting the other monks with tuberculosis that he had been diagnosed with.

When his mother died in 1963 and bequeathed to him a large plot of land, including an olive grove in the center of the town, Gallego had an idea. If he would never again be allowed to enter a Catholic church as an ordained member of the faith, then he would express his devotion in a magnificent way. He would build his own church. In fact he would build his own Cathedral from scratch and make a shrine to “Our Lady of the Pillar”, or Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

The future of the cathedral

Set amongst monotonous 1960s apartment blocks, the frame of the huge structure, with its 50-meter-tall dome modeled on St. Peter’s in Rome, towers over the town of Mejorada del Campo. Like the cathedrals of old, it will not reach completion during Don Justo’s lifetime.

What will happen to the building after Gallego’s death remains an open question and its future is uncertain. No one has yet stepped up to take over the project, nor is his cathedral recognized by the Catholic Church. What is more, Don Justo never applied for planning permission to build the cathedral and the structure does not conform to any building regulations.

There are rumous that it could be pulled down after Don Justo passes away but there is a concerted campaign to preserve it.

How to get there

Catedral de Justo is located in Mejorada del Campo, a small town just 20km from Madrid. To get there, there are two public buses from the centre: Avenida de América (line 282) and Conde de Casal (line 341). 

The bus stop in Mejorada del Campo is called Calle de Arquitecto Antoni Gaudí and is located right in front of the cathedral. However, going by car is a better option, so you can continue your day-trip to Alcalá de Heneres, Cervantes’ hometown, which is about half an hour away.

Listen to the When in Spain podcast episode for an audio tour around the cathedral with Paul Burge. HERE

Paul Burge is a former BBC journalist who moved from Oxford, UK to Madrid in 2013 where he now hosts the highly entertaining When in Spain a weekly podcast show about life in Madrid and beyond.  Follow Paul's observations and advice about living in Spain on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and his new YouTube channel.

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