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Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Weathervane Wednesday - A Weathercock in Spain

Another special edition of "Weathervane Wednesday"!  This weathervane was seen in Spain.


Weathercocks are ancient weathervanes that have their origins in a papal edict.  In the 9th century Pope Nicholas I ordered the churches in Europe to place a rooster symbol on their roofs or steeples. This was to remember the bible story where Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed. Many of the roosters were placed on weathervanes since they were on top of the steeples.  You see many weathercocks on old churches, especially in Europe.

This weathercock was photographed on the top of the steeple of Santa Engracia church in Uztarroz, Navarra, Spain.  This village is high in the Pyrenee mountains that separate Spain from France.  We were visiting Uztarroz specifically to bring my mother-in-law to see the church where she made her first communion on 4 May 1941. You can read more about that trip HERE.



The church of Santa Engracia was built in the 1500s.  The wood in the choir has been dated to 1591.  There is a pipe organ in the church that was built by Matias Rueda in 1738 and it is considered one of the best Baroque period organs in the world. 

The village of Uztarroz has only 160 people according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica in Spain.


A blog post about our trip to Uztarroz:

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday - A Weathercock in Spain", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 3, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/07/weathervane-wednesday-weathercock-in.html: accessed [access date]).

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