Evangelization and community in the Spanish postwar period

The sacred architecture in the villages of the National Institute of Colonization

Abstract

The Instituto Nacional de Colonización was born in 1939, in order to carry out the construction of
new villages in the rural areas and thus allow the reactivation of an agricultural sector that was holding the postwar economy.
However, its interests were both economic and socio-political. Its aim was to build new settlements
to regenerate farming, but also to build the ideal setting for a rural life and spiritual simultaneously. Its target was to link the work of the field to the spiritualization of community life and there- fore evangelization of the settlers. Thus, the Church building becomes key in their architecture, both by its ability to represent the community feeling, its presence in the urban scene, or the conversion of the belltower into a landmark.