Fira Tots Sants 675th Anniversary Exhibition at Palau Comtal
The celebration of the 2021 edition of the Fira de Tots Sants de Cocentaina will be special to certainly celebrate 675 years, a journey through time that has led to the Organization of a great event, unique in the national sphere. For almost 700 centuries, year after year, a wide and varied outdoor market has been convened almost uninterruptedly.
If we make a brief tour of the Fira through History, we see that it begins with the privilege of celebrations granted on May 12, 1346 by King Pedro IV, the Ceremonious, at the request of super uncle Alfonso Lauria, feudal lord of the Town. The concession allowed the convening of an annual fair from the feast of San Miguel with a duration of 15 days. The document also established the "Peace of Fair" and the trade franchise, which endowed the Fair with a special legal regime protected by the direct tutelage of the king. Thus, all those who attended, would enjoy a safe-conduct to ensure the merchandise and other interests throughout the trip, both outward and return, and the stay in Cocentaina.
The Fira de Tots Sants de Cocentaina is contextualized in a time and in a spatial framework. This essentially economic and recreational event has been held almost uninterruptedly since 1346, initially around the festival of San Miguel, between the end of September and the beginning of October. Subsequently, for reasons of commercial opportunity, the call was transferred to the end of October and the beginning of November. Definitively, in October 1795, the date was legally established as of October 28 and with a maximum duration of 15 days.
The spatial framework has always had as its nerve center the Plaza de la Villa and the adjacent streets. However, the constant increase in demand from vendors or fairgrounds and the number of people attending motivates the expansion to the other main square, the old Plaza del Palau or de les Monges, now the Plaza del Pla.
On the other hand, at the beginning the cattle fair should surely be located around a walled enclosure, such as the Market Square or the Pla de la Font (old Covarrubias square), until it was definitely in the last place. In this sense, the Pla de la Font deserves special attention, a meeting point for the cattle that enter Cocentaina, both on the days of the Fair or at any other time of the year. Around, since the Middle Ages, the Slaughterhouse has been found, that is why its space has served for many centuries as a place of waiting, rest and transaction of the animals that were going to be slaughtered and / or sold. In addition, it met all the necessary conditions as a meeting point: abundance of water, hostels, brothels, etc., services that have existed since the 15th century. In the 19th century it already had a public laundry and a fountain with a special place to drink the animals. For all these arguments, the space occupied by the square and the fountain / drinking fountain that presides over it, has a special heritage significance.
Starting in the sixties, the mechanization of agriculture with the incorporation of new machinery to replace livestock, caused the demand for other spaces to establish new products. This initial expansion gave way to other commercial offers of vehicles, new technologies, etc., which led to a constant reorganization of areas and the distribution of sales or service positions.
The activity not only took place in the street, since almost all the houses of the Old Town opened their doors to sell a wide variety of products or offer accommodation to outsiders, but also the owners offered the possibility of sleeping, of food and to house the animals of those who came from other populations.
On the other hand, at the beginning the cattle fair should surely be located around a walled enclosure, such as the Market Square or the Pla de la Font (old Covarrubias square), until it was definitely in the last place. In this sense, the Pla de la Font deserves special attention, a meeting point for the cattle that enter Cocentaina, both on the days of the Fair or at any other time of the year. Around, since the Middle Ages, the Slaughterhouse has been found, that is why its space has served for many centuries as a place of waiting, rest and transaction of the animals that were going to be slaughtered and / or sold. In addition, it met all the necessary conditions as a meeting point: abundance of water, hostels, brothels, etc., services that have existed since the 15th century. In the 19th century it already had a public laundry and a fountain with a special place to drink the animals. For all these arguments, the space occupied by the square and the fountain / drinking fountain that presides over it, has a special heritage significance.
Starting in the sixties, the mechanization of agriculture with the incorporation of new machinery to replace livestock, caused the demand for other spaces to establish new products. This initial expansion gave way to other commercial offers of vehicles, new technologies, etc., which led to a constant reorganization of areas and the distribution of sales or service positions.
The activity not only took place in the street, since almost all the houses of the Old Town opened their doors to sell a wide variety of products or offer accommodation to outsiders, but also the owners offered the possibility of sleeping, of food and to house the animals of those who came from other populations.
Due to the size that the Fira has been acquiring, the space that it currently occupies is four times that of its origin, that is why the expansion into new areas of the contemporary urban environment has been inevitable since the end of the sixties of the twentieth century.
Currently, the Fira de Tots Sants takes place throughout almost the entire urban space. Since the 1970s, the current Paseo del Condado, San Francisco Street, Anselmo Martí Square, Ben Khan Street, Alcalde Reig Square, King Jaime Avenue and Raval began to be occupied. As well as, at the beginning of the seventies, an area in the Sord ravine was adapted as an amusement park, which made it possible to take advantage of the old area of ??occupation by other points of sale of preferably food products.
The exhibition that has been prepared in the Auditorium of the Palau Comtal represents, in a graphic and informative way, the long journey and the continuous transformations that the Fira de Cocentaina has undergone.
The 13 panels of the main exhibition show the most identifying aspects of the Fira, especially the origins, in the Middle Ages, the changes of dates in the celebration, the progressive occupation of spaces and the streets of the town and the change from a fair in which the transaction of animals was the main axis to another that became in the beginning in the sale of tractors until the exhibition of the technologies later on. The exhibition also shows the involvement of a people, the cultural and institutional commitment during the last decades, and, naturally, the declaration as Asset of Intangible Cultural Interest and International Tourist Interest.
In the first room of the Hall of Ambassadors, the Privilegi de la Fira is exhibited again in a stand and display case designed expressly for the exhibition of documents. An important part of the exhibition is the different ethnographic objects related to the Fair, which have been provided by Juan Orihuela Fuente expressly for this exhibition.
Outside the Auditorium, on the wall of the portico terrace, a large special panel from the 675th edition of the Fira de Tots Sants de Cocentaina is exhibited.
Exhibition credits
Organize
Cocentaina City Council - Fira Department
Mayor - Mireia Estepa Olcina
Councilor of Fira - Maria Eugenia Miguel Anduix
Councilor for Culture - Ivan Jover Peris
Curator - Elisa María Domènech Faus
Exhibition assembly collaboration - Josep Domènech Faus, Municipal Museum of Cocentaina
Contribution of photographic material - Juan Oriola Fuente
Linguistic supervision - AVIVA Municipal Office
Photographs and graphic documents - José María Agulló Galiana, Richart / Carbonell family archive
Photographic archive Department of Fira, Paco Grau, Municipal Archive of Alcoy, Municipal Museum Archive of Cocentaina
Design, layout, printing and placement - Alcoy digital graphic area
Sponsor
Cocentaina City Council / Fira Council
Valencian Tourism Agency
