Monday, July 18, 2011

Spain - Avila.

 Avila is another of these wonderful walled towns in Spain, we've never seen anything like these in Australia of course but here they are every few kilometres apart.

Below from the same spot as above taken today from Google Maps.

Not a good photo but these Big Bull Billboards :-)  were a common sight along the county roads of Spain, I did a little Google and found out more about them.
 From Wiki.
The Osborne sherry company (founded by Thomas Osborne Mann in 1772) erected large images of bulls starting in 1956 to advertise their Brandy de Jerez. They were in black (with the brand "Veterano" in red on it) advertising hoardings located on sites near to major roads throughout Spain. The original image was smaller and in a slightly different design. It got bigger as a law barred publicity within 150 meters of a road.
Later on a new law was passed in 1994, this time prohibiting such advertising, and so the hoardings were to be removed. By this time the signs were nationally renowned, so although some campaigners wished them completely removed to fully comply with the intent of the law, public response resulted in the signs being retained, but completely blacked out to remove all reference to the original advertisers. The Court eventually allowed these signs to remain on the grounds that it has become a part of the landscape where it is present and its "aesthetic or cultural significance" thus turning it into a figure of public domain.

And below from Google Maps.

No comments: