This is the story of a great love, an old house, a deep long sleep and a wonderful awakening. It is the story of people who slowly but steadily pursue goals. It is the story of a community whose bonds are invisible but also mysteriously strong. It is the story of a staircase, a sculpture that has moved into Pacha Mama’s house. And it is the story of a time of reflection on the essential thing in life, love.

Casa Pacha Mama is a house of our community in the village of Cervera del Maestre in Castellon. The house is several hundred years old and yet one of the newer houses in the village. The development of a winding passageway between the houses of the Moorish settlement was expanded and gave space, hope and protection to a poor family from Catalunya in the late Middle Ages.

Several generations have repeatedly rebuilt the small house and adapted it to the current needs of their lives. Most recently, the first floor was partly used as a chicken coop and the terrace as a rabbit hutch. An old man was the last resident on the ground floor. He looked out of his kitchen through a window the size of a postcard. And went down into the cellar through a rotten wooden hatch in the hallway. After that the house was uninhabited. Nobody was interested in this house at the end of a cul-de-sac, squeezed between other large, stately houses. Then we came…

After almost twenty years of temporary use for helpers in the construction of the large house CASAdelDRAGON, the time had come. We started rebuilding the house. The shell and the first phase of the interior work were completed in 2008. The construction had put a lot of strain on the budget and we first had to try to consolidate. In 2009, the basement room was part of the “Vuelta de Arte” and showed an installation by a Mexican artist.
Until the end of 2023, the building was only used as a warehouse and at times also served as a studio for art production. Then the plan was made to complete the interior expansion.

The spiral staircase as the central connection between the floors had to be built first. The staircase itself, made of iron and wood, was intended to underline the character of the house and was technically a challenge, as a four-level steel structure had to be built in a small space.

Many people helped. Of particular note is Oscar, who welded the central column and the steps together. Dirk and Tina helped make the steps and exits. And many others contributed to us being able to hand over this staircase to the owner as a birthday present on January 31, 2024. She knew nothing, nothing about how far we were, nothing about who had come to the celebration, and nothing about all the preparations for a big, milestone birthday.

Some details on these stairs are connected in a very special way to our community and our lives here in Spain. There was a grate in the basement of the house for over 30 years. We found this in an old garbage dump in the village. Whenever we drove away rubble and came back with something “valuable,” Antje shook her head. She was just happy about a little more space on the construction site and we immediately cleared the space full of treasures for the future… whatever future…

Our old friend Henk DeROOY closed his workshop many years ago. He gave us some objects from his collection. These also included castings with coats of arms and decorations. Henk was a very special person. We have a lot to thank him for. Ultimately, he said the decisive sentence that inspired our decision for this project and this place! Now his gift is a detail in this staircase, and anyone who uses it can notice it and ask about it. Then the birthday child knows the story, about Inge and Henk, about the buses, the furniture transport, the tenant changes in the summer and the old man and the sea (which took his brother from him).

Even after the celebration, construction work will continue. The staircase was a milestone on the way to completing this house and thus a building block in this work of giving friendship and love a place and allowing it to have an effect, in a beautiful village in Maestrazgo.

Life is a building yard. Love shows the way.

Many thanks to: Corinna, Claudia, Holle, Jan, Tina, Dirk, Utz, Irene, Dörte, Oscar…