‘Xiquets i xiquetes de comunió’, 130 years of Benidorm's history

The premises of the Recreational Cultural Association 'La Barqueta', on Tomás Ortuño street, will be exhibiting from today and for two weeks the retrospective photographic exhibition 'Xiquets i xiquetes de comunió', which brings together snapshots of children from Benidorm on such a day indicated in childhood, according to Catholic tradition, that of the first communion.
The association shows a total of 890 images of girls and boys. From the end of the 19th century to the last decades of the 20th. A collection that ‘La Barqueta’ has been compiling in recent months in which the pandemic has prevented the normal performance of its activities and that turn the small dimensions of its premises into a fragment of the history of the city.
The councilors of Culture and Festivities, Jaime Jesús Pérez and Jesús Carrobles, have toured together with the president 'La Barqueta', Francisco Llorens, Paco Rosera, and other members of his board of directors, the panels where hundreds of photographs are piled up, many from study, carried out by boys and girls on that day, generally in the month of May and prior to Corpus Christi festival.
Llorens has pointed out that the collection of images has taken place "during the last weeks and until today they have brought us photographs". A compilation that not only affects the religious aspect, but also "the ethnological", because through the images arranged by decades and years "you can see how the society of Benidorm has evolved."
With all the graphic material of the sample, ‘La Barqueta’ wants to continue preserving “the historical heritage of the city” and hopes after its digitization “to make it available to all the people”, Llorens has added.