Alicante boasts of exhibiting the largest set of figures from the Nativity scene in the world every year. Every Christmas, since 2019, alternating the location, the gigantic complex of the Sagrada Familia, which the Three Wise Men have accompanied since last year, attracts thousands of people eager to photograph it. Now, the city can aspire to another record: being the place where Christmas lasts the longest.
Because until today, February 1, when according to municipal sources they will be removed, six gigantic angels that were added to the celebration in 2022, scattered throughout highly visible areas of the city to generate a Christmas atmosphere, have remained in their location, as anachronistic as the high temperatures of January.
As explained yesterday by sources from the municipal Festivities department, the stylized angels have remained installed for a month, “which is the period stipulated in the contract.” The problem is that, for reasons that the city council has not explained clearly, instead of installing these ninots of almost nine meters each at the beginning of December, like last year, it did so at the end of the month, after Christmas.
It does not seem that delaying its removal is the best way to repair a planning error that has a close precedent, because in 2019, when Luis Barcala was also mayor, the Christmas lights were not placed until well into the month of December, which caused the protest of merchants and neighbors.
The set of six angels cost the city 75,000 euros, at 12,500 euros per head. Two of the figures are the work of Javier Gómez Morollón, and measure eight meters high; 4.70 wide, and 3.35 deep. The other four were executed by Lorenzo Santana and one of them, the tallest, reaches 8.6 meters. They do not go unnoticed, of course; especially because they are located in some of the busiest places in the city, such as in front of the train station or in the Plaza de Luceros.
