Some 25 years ago, the village of Fanzara high in the mountains in the interior of Castellon province in eastern Spain, was in danger of becoming a ghost town.
There were plans for the installation of a toxic waste incinerator and whilst villagers demonstrated against it, their children played at demonstrating as well.
In the end, it wasn’t constructed but this didn’t help the villagers actually find work or sustain their families.
Two locals Javier López and Rafa Gascó thought that Fanzara could become a thriving community if they could come up with a new idea which would encourage visitors to spend some time and some money there.
Their simple idea, which has now been copied and expanded upon by many towns throughout Spain was to invite graffiti artists to visit the village and paint really attractive designs on the walls of different houses, turning the village into an urban art gallery.
Sounds simple but in those days, urban art was seen as potentially mindless vandalism but eventually the pair persuaded some of the elderly residents to allow the walls of their properties to become ‘blank canvasses’.
Next step was to find artists prepared to visit the village and create some work, but it escalated beyond all expectation.
Credit: MIAU Fanzara Facebook
In fact 23 artists, mainly Spanish, answered the call and in that first year, no less than 44 murals had been created in what was then dubbed the MIAU, or Museo Inacabado de Arte Urbano (Unfinished Museum of Urban Art).
At the time, the Fanzara Council contributed €2,000 to help the costs and the artists raised funds themselves online and by selling merchandise.
Credit: MIAU Fanzara Facebook
Each year, since then, there has been a festival inviting new artists from around the world to add to the artwork in the village although there was something of a hiatus in 2023 when there was a change in the make-up of the Council with the Partido Popular taking control and allegedly imposing certain restrictions on what wording could appear accompanying the artwork.
Despite this, the village of Fanzara is arguably the first and most complete example of concentrated Urban Art in Spain.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.