Urbicain / Urbicáin / Urbikain

Described in the Catálogo Monumental de Navarra (1990?- , vol. IV*: 563) as a baptismal font consisting of a basin on which the motifs are now lost, a conical base and a lower base ornamented with two mouldings and four ball motifs at 90-degree angles. Described in Domeño (1992) in the same terms. At this date [March 2003] the font appears very worn, especially the basin sides, although the lower base seems to have faired better; a plain flat wooden cover of unknown date has locking hardware. [The CMdeN mentions an octagonal holy-water stoup by the door but no date or other particulars -- not included in this Index]. Though not mentioned in the sources above, the inner basin of the font had been later divided using concrete to create spaces for the water, the oils, etc. Update 8 March 2012: both the font and the stoup are reported stolen in today's issue of Diario de Navarra [www.diariodenavarra.es/noticias/navarra/mas_navarra/sanchez_muniain_lamenta_hurto_una_pila_bautismal_urbicain_72964_2061.html] [accessed 8 March 2012] "El consejero de Cultura, Turismo y Relaciones Institucionales del Gobierno de Navarra, Juan Luis Sánchez de Muniáin, ha lamentado este jueves la sustracción de una pila bautismal del siglo XV, valorada en unos 9.000 euros, en Urbicáin, un pueblo abandonado del valle de Izagandoa, donde también han robado la pila del agua bendita." Update January 2015: the font was seen and photographed inside the church at nearby Iriso by Mikel Unanue for BSI on 18 May 2014; the font was dismantled but still retains the wooden coover. [NB: an e-mail from our local contact in the Izagaondoa valley, Simeón Hidalgo Valencia, unravels the 'mystery': the font was never stolen, as claimed by a poorly-informed Pamplona politician, but was moved for its protection -theft of objects in abandoned churches is rampant- by unidentified locals and taken to the church at Iriso].