Houses and Streets

UB107
Square, Fountain, and Saint Lucia Fair

Fountain

After the Civil War, “Regiones Devastadas” (Devastated Regions) was the body in charge of resolving the destruction produced by the Spanish Civil War. In 1953 the architect Mauro Lleó designed the most monumental fountain, inspired by the door of the Vives Palace in Benifairó de les Valls, a Renaissance building.

The stonemasons who made it, directed by a specialist from Puçol, were three residents of the town: Eusebio Compañ, José Montal and Ovidio Montal.

Saint Lucia Fair

Around this fountain, on the Sunday after December 13, if this day was not a Sunday, the “porrat” or Santa Lucía fair is celebrated, which dates back to the Middle Ages in the Segorbina hermitage in front of Sot de Ferrer, a nearby town. Since 1935, the Fair took place in Algímia and it was from the 1960s that, as an annex to the “Plaza de la Iglesia” (Church Square), the Fair was installed in town, being the only location from the 1970s.

Until the 1970s, the expectation that the Fair brought was great. At the time it was practically the only possibility to acquire Christmas gifts, from the hand of some stallholders who came from the Purisima de Segorbe Fair (Segorbe is the Capital City of the area). Also, nougat and Christmas sweets could be found. Some might even take a funny picture of themselves, sticking their heads through a hole in a decorated plank; or climbing on top of a wooden horse.