This weathervane was photographed in Valencia, Spain. We were there in October, just a few weeks before the big flood.
The Iglesia de Santa Catalina (or Esglesia de Santa Caterina Martir in the native language Valencian, a dialect of Catalan) is located on the Plaza Lope de Vega in Valencia, Spain. It was built on the site of a mosque in the 13th century, and expanded and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The current church was constructed in 1785. The 56 meter (about 184 feet high) octagonal bell tower was begun in 1688 and finished in 1705.
According to Wikipedia "On the dome and as a crowning, a ball that represents the globe and a weather vane with the symbols of the saint (St. Catherine) allow it to reach 56.12 metres in height. And at the top is the cross. In 2001 it was restored by the Generalitat Valenciana and with the financing of the Caja Madrid foundation, inagurating its resotration on 28/11/2002." The symbols of St. Catherine are a broken wheel, because she was martyred and killed on this torture device.
This church was attacked during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, and destroyed by fire. In the 1950s it was restored, but the baroque interior decorations on the walls were never replaced.
Our daughter is named "Catalina", because when I was pregnant and trying to find a baby name that could be pronounced easily by both sides of our family we stayed one night at the parador in Jaen, Spain. This was a beautiful parador hotel in a lovely medieval castle on a bluff. I learned that the castle was named after Santa Catalina, and we both decided that name was it. We never found a boy's name, so it was a good thing I had a girl!
This little chocolate shop dedicated to Santa Catalina was nearby the church.
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St. Catherine of Alexandria (Santa Catalina)
with her wheel
For the truly curious:
The Spanish Wikipedia article for Santa Catalina, Valencia in English:
The Wikipedia article on the torture device known as a Catherine's wheel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_wheel
Click here to see over 550 more weathervanes: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday
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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Iglesia de Santa Catalina, Valencia, Spain for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 1, 2025, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/01/iglesia-de-santa-catalina-valencia.html: accessed [access date]).
