Añua is a village in

Elburgo Elburgo ( eu, Burgelu) is a village and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. The municipality officially has a dual name, "Elburgo/Burgelu", reflecting the officially bilingual status of this pro ...

municipality, in the province of

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its ca ...

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

, Spain. The population of Añua was 31 inhabitants in 2007 but this has changed through the years and the population has grown consequently. It is from the sea. A building that is in the small village is the nativity church which was built in the 13th century, because of this ancient monument many people from the localities nearby come to admire it. There are also some old houses with architectural interest, some of rural style and others more modern from the 16th century. There is also a mill, which has a mythological story which is told every Saint John's Day to little kids. The story is about a man who worked in mill. One day it was raining so hard that he couldn't move from the mill because he was scared, but it also was too dangerous to stay there. So he called the “Galtzagorris”, which are some small mythological creatures that lived in the woods. These special creatures showed the miller the way home while they sang. Nowadays it is very common to see people from other villages coming to Añua to watch the show. There are also some special celebrations during the night of Hallowe'en. This is prepared by the whole council. The fiestas of the locality are the first weekend of September, the Nativity Day, which is the patroness of Añua.

Nativity church

Añua is an old and small group of country houses which has inside it a parish temple which has a direct influence with the old Basque Santiago's way of the interior and of artistic interest thanks to its presbytery and its abside from the 13th century. Experts place its style in the transition between the

Romanic The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

and the Progothic. This combination presents a slender decoration based on little columns, canes, blind sharp arches and splayed sharp windows, but with Romanic vices. They also appear as vegetal, animal and human carvings. The rest of the temple is subsequent, and its different elements were built-in in the next centuries. The entrance door in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, from the 15th century, the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and the Otazu- Guevera's Chapel are Gothic-renaissance from the 16th century, the

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

from the 17th century and the tower was rebuilt in the 18th century. Inside what stands out are the mayor retable, from the baroque in the 17th century, and the Saint Sebastian Triptych from the renaissance, the 16th century. Nowadays, there are also some handmade representations of the nativity scene made by people from the whole council which some are very impressive to see. Many tourists visit the village to admire the old church and its surroundings and to know more about its history. File:Añua 04.JPG, Fountain File:Añua 03.JPG, Weather vane in Añua File:Añua 01.JPG File:Añua 02.JPG, House in Añua File:Añua 04 - Iglesia de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora.JPG, Church of the Nativity File:Añua - Iglesia de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora 14.JPG, Church of the Nativity File:Añua - Iglesia de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora 12.JPG, Church of the Nativity

Nativity church

See also