Orte clothing store in Madrid Bright red, lined with polka dots and as long as three cars, the Orte clothing store sign has long been located on Madrid’s Alcalá street (Spain), its presence unwavering since its inception. even when fast food restaurants and chains started popping up. When the store closed and the land turned to rent, the news quickly reached Alberto Nanclares. Within days he arrived at the site, working with a team to try to remove the sign from the façade, where it has stood for more than five decades. Nanclares is part of the Iberian Graphic Heritage Protection Network, which includes more than 50 projects dedicated to honoring and protecting a type of heritage that they say is endangered: the commercial signs that have long made their mark. city ​​identity. “Everybody sees these signs, but few people pay attention to them,” said Nanclares. “When they are thrown away, the memory of our city is thrown away.” The projects in the network are diverse – there is a movement to preserve signs in the hope that they might one day appear in a museum, such as Nanclares’ Paco Graco project, as well as a project to classify objects. signs, from century-old enamelware to colorful neon signs. It all creates a living archive that spans 25 cities and towns across the peninsula. The core vision of the network is that heritage includes not only palaces, cathedrals and royal jewels, but also the places that shape our lives and identities – a heritage that is open to all. everyone, according to Nanclares. “There are very few people in Spain who think that this is heritage, that this is what binds us together, allows us to progress and understand ourselves better.” Inspired by signage museums in Berlin (Germany) and Warsaw (Poland), the Iberian movement took on new meaning after a series of recessions – from the 2008 economic crisis to to the Covid-19 pandemic – which changed the cityscape. Laura Asensio, a graphic designer in Valladolid, Spain, says that when small businesses close, they are often replaced by giant global corporations that don’t have much of a local connection. She points to the changes that have swept Spain’s city centres: “Whether you’re in Madrid, Barcelona or Salamanca, the city’s iconic symbols are now essentially the same,” Asensio says. “There will always be a McDonald’s, a Zara store… It’s a pity that cities lose their charm.” The Letreiro Galeria project has collected more than 250 signs Asensio’s project, Valladolid with Character, hopes to prevent this monotony with an interactive map of more than 1,000 signs around the city. Compiled by a team of people, the map marks everything from the decades-old red bus stop signs welcoming visitors to the giant calligraphy pen that sits above the sign of a fountain pen shop. In Lisbon (Portugal), Rita Múrias and Paola Batata started their project in 2014, when souvenir shops and crepe stalls sprang up all over the city. “We were designers in search of ideas, and then we realized these signs capture the stories of store owners and human memories,” says Múrias. “People tell you about a time they visited these stores with their grandmother, or when they were kids. They associate location with memories.” The two soon began using their free time and budget to “rescue” signs from businesses that were about to close. Their project, Letreiro Galeria (Sign Exhibit), has now collected 250 different signs. They are currently in a borrowed warehouse while the two strive to realize their dream of opening a museum. While some cities have enacted laws to protect signs, the network’s members hope that their efforts will help people understand heritage of this kind. “It is a process of raising awareness. People’s reactions are amazing when they follow me on Instagram and then they love the sign more than the selfie,” said López. “Then they started sending me pictures of the signs they saw while traveling. It creates a chain effect.”

From legend to reality In the summer of 2020, the owner of the pub Cervercería Giralda decided to renovate his property during a time of absence due to road construction and the impact of the pandemic. After layers of paint, plaster and ceiling, characteristic colorful geometric patterns and stars gradually emerged. The 12th century Islamic-style sauna was discovered in a famous pub in Seville, Spain. Photo: El Pais. Before that, many local legends and some historical documents suggest that the site may have been an ancient sauna. However, the majority of respondents believe that Giralda’s nostalgic architecture has a hint of neomudéjar style (a type of Moorish architecture commonly found in the Iberian peninsula), or Islamic style. This pub and hotel was rebuilt by architect Vicente Traver on the structure of an old building in the early 1920s. Antonio Castro, one of four co-owners of Giralda, said: “It is rumored that there are many old bathhouses here. However, not all historians agree with that hypothesis, some people did not accept it until later. We are doing some reconstruction work, some archaeologists have participated, and that’s how this bathhouse was discovered. ” “A fateful arrangement of differences” Archaeologist Álvaro Jiménez was one of those who believed that ancient bathhouse rumors were just myths. However, in July 2020, his team was gouging plaster on the ceiling when they discovered many eight-pointed star-shaped skylights. “As soon as we saw the openings in the ceiling, we knew immediately what the precursor of this room was. It cannot be anything but a bathroom, ”Mr. Jiménez said. Eight-pointed star-shaped skylights characterize 12th-century Muslim bathhouses. Photo: Álvaro Jiménez. According to the Guardian The design dates back to the 12th century, when the Almohad Muslim empire ruled much of what is today Spain, Portugal and parts of North Africa. “Generally speaking, this bathhouse has more intact decorations than any known bathhouse on the Iberian peninsula,” said archaeologists. “Everything here is decorated, and fortunately, they still exist today. The base of the wall is white mortar, engraved on it with geometric lines, circles and squares. The most characteristic of the bathrooms is the paintings of red ocher painted with stars and eight-pointed asterisks. These two motifs are interleaved with each other, corresponding to them are sky well holes of similar shape ”, Mr. Jiménez described. The star-shaped pattern and the eight-pointed asterisk that decorated the bathroom were covered with plastering lime. Photo: Álvaro Jiménez. Currently, Giralda still needs to be chiseled out of the lime coating to be able to reveal all the underlying architecture. This old sauna and pub is undergoing further maintenance and repair. It will reopen within two or three weeks. Mr. Jiménez described this finding as “a fateful arrangement of differences”. He said Giralda is reborn to become a miracle. Mr. Castro and his partners expect this discovery to open a new chapter to Giralda’s history. They also hope the pub will bring a new experience to customers. “This place used to be just a pretty famous pub. But now, people will enjoy beer or wine in a 12th-century pub and sauna. It’s great that the architect who built this pub in the 1920s respected the architecture of the bathhouse. . Had it been in someone else’s hands, this place might have been leveled and rebuilt. We are grateful to him, ”he shared.