Photos of Nava de Béjar (Salamanca) (December 2021) (part 1)

=> Photos from December 2021

Nava de Béjar is a village and municipality in the southeast of the province of Salamanca, in Castilla and León (Spain, Europe). It is part of the Sierra de Béjar region. It belongs to the Béjar judicial district, the judicial district number 4 of the province of Salamanca, and is also part of the municipal associations of Embalse de Béjar and Pantano de Santa Teresa.

It has a population of 76 inhabitants (according to INE data from 2023) and an area of 11.73 km².

I have been spending summers (and even 'winters' on some occasions) in this little village since I was 4 years old. Although at first glance it appears to be a virtually uninhabited village and for many even 'lifeless', for me it has become my dear and sacred vacation village and my personal paradise. Thanks to this blessed village, today I support rural life and the fight against depopulation. This village has stolen my heart.

The beautiful parish church is dedicated to Saint Dominic of Guzmán, dates back to the 12th century and is in the Salamanca Romanesque style. The patron saint of Nava de Béjar, highly loved and revered by all the locals and summer visitors, is Saint Dominic of Guzmán, who rests in the main altarpiece of his own parish church. Its patronal festivities, in honor of Saint Dominic of Guzmán, take place during the first two weeks of August; although actually, the patronal festivities themselves last five days, usually extending from August 3 to August 7 (regardless of whether it falls on a weekend or a weekday), with the main day (the day of the solemn mass and procession) being August 4 and the announcement day being August 3; the remaining days of those two first weeks of August are actually cultural and sports activities that are celebrated as part of the patronal festivities.

And for those who are fond of museums, I would like to mention that in this small village of just 76 inhabitants there are 3 museums (two of them private but always visitable by prior appointment with their owner). The 3 museums in Nava are the Parish Museum (private museum owned by Fidel Hernández Benjumeda, secretary of the Brotherhood of Saint Dominic of Guzmán; located in the former baptistery of the Parish Church of Saint Dominic of Guzmán), the Permanent Exhibition of Photographs of Nava de Béjar (museum open all year round with free admission; located in the main hall of the Town Hall building; the opening hours coincide with those of the Town Hall and the Municipal Secretariat) and the House-Museum of Uncle Tararira (private museum also owned by Fidel Hernández Benjumeda; located in the interior courtyard of Fidel's own house, in the Plazuela de las Escuelas (part of Calle Pocillo); this is an ethnographic museum, as it shows what a traditional Nava home was like from the 18th to the 20th century).