Buildings of interest
LA PETENERA MONUMENT
It is located in the Square with the same name, next to Blas Infante Avenue, whose author is the artist from Alcalá Jesús Cuesta Arana in 1982. At the beginning this monument occupied the central area of Plaza de la Constitución, but it was during the term in office of 1995-1999 in which its location was changed, occupying so the place it currently does.
This monument represents the singer and dancer Dolores la Petenera, natural from Paterna and that in her time, mid-19th Century, was a famous artist who gave origin to the kind of singing that carries her name, peteneras singing, a modality that Pastora Pavón “Niña de los Peines” at the beginning of the 20th century, raised at its highest level, giving it strength and power. This pattern was followed by singers of great recognition around the world of flamenco from then until now.
Besides representing a woman and a singing, at the same time she represents a legend. La Petenera as “men’s downfall…”
LOS CUATRO VIENTOS TURRET
Los Cuatro Vientos Turret, as it is called this construction in the township, is part of one of the constructions leaded by the philanthropist from Cádiz and benefactor of this village, Mr. Elías Ahuja y Andría in 1935, of which, among others, it is remarkable the adaptation of a building to shelter the Civil Guard barracks, adaptation and construction of a building to shelter the City Hall, Nurseries and Houses for teachers, and the construction of a Customs Guard barrack.
The construction of the Turret is part of the project of water bringing from the area of los Charcones, which is rich in natural springs and is very close of the village. The project consisted of some canalizations and with help of a powerful bomb, to carry the water to the deposit; the Turret, located in a strategic place (currently Plaza del Mirador) and with such a height that the water could reach perfectly all the established different points in the village for supplying for them. This construction was the only one that was not finished, among all the constructions this close and helping man led, in those times of great economic scarcity for the villagers of Paterna during the period 19993-1938 as he had to go into exile to the US for political reasons.
Nowadays and using the structure left of the construction, it has been launched a project of viewpoint and constructing for this, an iron structure parallel to this one and affixed to this tower so it can shelter an elevator and from this, you can admire the landscape that surrounds our village.
MUNICIPAL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
The Municipal Historical Archive has its headquarters in C/ Arcos nº 6. Inside it, it is preserved documents produced in the City Hall of Paterna de Rivera since 1596 to 1996. The move of the documents to this place was made in March 2002.
The entry of documentation in the municipal archive is the usual in the public administration. The dossier, by losing its administrative validity goes from the office archive to the intermediate archive and finally to the historical one.
The major part of the preserved documents is that produced in the 20th century and more concretely, that produced since the forties of that century. However, it is preserved previous series earlier in time but some of them are interrupted presenting so chronologic lapses and others even disappear. There are also preserved closed series, that is, documentary types, which due to the variations suffered by the administrative management, have stopped of being produced.
Among all the documents that make up the municipal archive fund, we can outline that which is remarkable for their antiquity as it has an evident historical valor, as well as that which make up the bulkiest series.
In the first group we find the Books of the Meeting Minutes that, with some lapses, cover the period 1596/1923. With a lesser volume, but also because of its historical valor, it is remarkable a part of the documents of the Public Granary which covers the years from 1631 to 1777 and the Cadastre of the Ensenada Marquis of 1760.
In this group the documentation with historical valor we have to include three volumes of non municipal documentation. This is the Register of notarial writings (of purchase, sale, testaments, dowries, etc) and which correspond to the years 1660/1747.
About the series remarkable because of their greater volume, we have to mention the Registers of Entry and Exit of documents, discipline dossiers of urban planning, of municipal and provincial constructions and those correspondent to the economic/fiscal documentation, where it is remarkable the high number of accounting books.
MINING-MEDICINAL WATERS OF LA FUENTECITA
Paterna de Rivera has in its territory a great richness in underground waters which is given by the geology of the territory that occupies the township and more concretely of waters sulfide salt mines, of which there are four outcrops, being the most important one that of la Fuentecita, located very near of the populations, just a few meters far.
In the 19th century, and thanks to this water, Paterna had two thermal springs, which profited this resource and knew to exploit them. These were the Bathing Areas of Fuente Santa, the first in being constructed and the most important one as it had the natural spring with the biggest caudal, and the Bathing Areas of Concepción, the second one. These places were located very near where the current outcrop is. The main purpose of these spas was, in addition to take the water as a pleasure, the sanitary purpose. The properties these waters have due to their mineral richness were used to cure illnesses, overall those typical of the skin like: eruptions, ulcerations, spots on the skin and others. They were also used to treat illnesses of the digestive system, headaches, every type of illnesses related to the sight and a long etc. This fact produced very good economic incomes to the township for some years, so much that the population of Paterna almost doubled.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the medicine had a great advance. The spas of many populations fell into disuse and their facilities were abandoned because their maintenance was ruinous. Now then, in the pharmacies you could find the medicines for curing illnesses without having to move to these kinds of establishments. The case of our population was not an exception. Our spas were abandoned and ruined. Only those who had enough resources to face this new trend continued.
It is also worthy to mention the land moves and slippages that took place in the area where the spas were, cliffs area that produced rockslides over the water springs which supplied these facilities, burying these and drying them. A fact that would produce a new outcrop of this water on the other side of the hill from where the first ones flew and that currently is located in the place called “La Fuentecita” or “Los Charcones”.
It is also important to add that the sulfide-salt waters of Paterna de Rivera have been declared by Resolution of the 27th April 2010 of the General Administration of Industry, Energy and Mines, as Mine-Medicinal Waters, and published in the BOJA nº 100 the 25th May 2010.