Bullfighting – arenas and posters
Stories
Bullfighting - arenas and posters
Bull fighting is not a sport. It was never supposed to be. It is a tragedy.
In recent years we regularly travelled with our buscamper through the inland of Spain and Portugal. In most villages and towns there is a bullfighting arena and we both find it fascinating to visit and photograph the local bullring in the places we visit. It is fantastic when the camper site, which is regularly the case, is near the Plaza de Toros (Spain) or the Praça de Touros (Portugal).
Proponents see bullfighting as culture, a centuries-old tradition or even art or dance. They believe that these bulls have a very good life (grazing outside in complete freedom) in contrast to animals in factory farming that are eventually slaughtered.
Opponents see it as unnecessary animal cruelty for the bulls (incidentally also for the horses). The animals are tortured and killed for popular entertainment. Also, the bulls are often seriously (invisibly) injured or tormented in advance to influence the course of the fight.
I think my interest in the phenomenon of bullfighting originated from the books of Ernest Hemingway. He wrote: “Bull fighting is not a sport. It was never supposed to be. It is a tragedy” . Although I belong to the opponents of bullfighting, I hate the cruelty, however everything around bullfighting fascinates me.
I hope that the Spaniards and Portuguese take very good care of their beautiful arenas and I hope they will invent an animal-friendly alternative that proponents and opponents can agree with.
Our photo series
Segovia
Las Virtudes
8 kilometers from Santa Cruz de Mudela, is the hamlet of Las Virtudes. It houses two special buildings, an old hermitage and a special bullring.The arena was built next to the primitive hermitage with materials from the area, decorated with wood of Mudejar motifs. It is considered the oldest square arena in the world that is still intact.
Santa Eulália
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