Ciriano / Ziriano / Ziriao

SOS-Ziriano Kultur Alkartea [www.sos-ziriano.org] [accesed 15 November 2015] reports the church in a lamentable state of comservation; it does not mention a medieval font in it, but announces that the church was eventually targeted for restoration by the provincial government [Diputación de Alava]. A photograph taken 23 January 2010 by SOS-Ziriano and displayed in Flickr [www.flickr.com/photos/46910858@N03/4305975273/in/photostream/] [accessed 15 November 2015] shows a stone font still in situ inside an alcove or small chapel inside the semi-ruinous church of San Juan Bautista in Ciriano / Ziriano. On 6 November 2015 BSI received two photographs of that same font taken on 12 January 2015 by Angel Benito [e-mail of 6 November 2015 received via Mikel Unanue], that show the old font in a completely new setting, the interior of the Iglesia de San Joaquin y Santa Ana, a newly built church located in Salburua, a 'barrio' of the capital, Vitoria / Gasteiz. The building of the Salburua church was featured in El Correo Digital, edition of 7 September 2009 [www.elcorreo.com/vizcaya/20090907/alava/nueva-parroquia-salburua-estara-20090907.html] [accessed 15 November 2015] as scheduled by the Diócesis de Vitoria to be completed by early 2010; the article, which states its information originated in the Bishop's office, does not mention the font at all; the decision to move the old font to the new parish church would have been made by the diocesan authorities. The decision to remove the font from the old church appears to have been taken against the local wishes, as it can be gathered from a Facebook message of 29 June 2010 [www.facebook.com/sos-ziriano-218750582882/notes] [accessed 15 November 2015] which reads: "Se llevan la pila bautismal de la iglesia. Hemos recibido una noticia que nos ha entristecido profundamente. Cuando aún nada se sabe del comienzo de las obras, ni siquiera de licitaciones o adjudicaciones, sin comunicado previo al pueblo, casi con nocturnidad, la pasada semana se dio el pistoletazo de salida a la temida diáspora patrimonial en la iglesia. Huérfana de tejas, maderas y cuidados, ahora la iglesia se ha quedado también huérfana de una de las piezas que le han acompañado desde hace 500 años, antes incluso que Juan de Elejalde iniciara el pincelado de la bóvedas; otro de los elementos que, en su discreto rincón al lado del coro, ha sido testigo de la historia del pueblo y en el que fueron bautizados generaciones y generaciones de habitantes de Ziriano La unidad patrimonial, precisamente lo que con la reciente solicitud de catalogación como Bien Calificado sos-ziriano pretendía preservar, ha quedado rota. La pila bautismal ha partido rumbo a una parroquia en Zabalgana. Se hace leña de un árbol que, lamentablemente sin remedio aún, sigue en su inexorable caída." This message is accompanied by a photograph of the baptistery chapel and font taken by Guzmán Orúe, and the following quote: "Podría fecharse a partir del medioevo tardío, tal vez en momentos próximos a las primeras obras del templo actual, en las décadas iniciales del siglo XVI" (Catálogo Monumental de la Diócesis de Vitoria. Tomo VIII)". The baptismal font of stone consists of a roughly hemispherical basin decorated with a single moulding at the upper rim, which still retains two metal staples from an old cover; raised on a cylindrical pedestal base and a square lower base; the lower base appears to have heads or ball motifs at the corners and the upper sides, too eroded for identification; ditto a pattern on the sides. No cover present