In 1957 the bull run (encierro) of San Fermín was held on eight days in a row, every morning from July 7 to July 14, “a las siete en punto de la mañana, hora de San Cernin”, at seven sharp by the San Cernin clock. On the first morning a great wall of young men formed; on July 10 a bull caught a runner in the ring and he was taken to hospital; that evening he was reported much better.1, 3, 6, 7
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The mayor’s bando, agreed with the civil governor, set the encierros “a las siete en punto de la mañana, hora de San Cernin, de los días 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 y 14 del corriente”: eight mornings in a row, from July 7 to July 14.1
The paper complained more and more about runners who called the bulls on. After the run of July 10 it wrote of the consequences of such excesses, “como desgraciadamente ocurrió ayer”, as sadly happened that day,6 and the next day it praised the young men of Pamplona who stopped a reckless youth from doing it.8
| Date | Run | Ranch (ganadería) | What the paper reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 7 | 1 | Salvador Guardiola | A great wall of runners; no horn wound |
| July 8 | 2 | Manuel Arranz | Nothing for the doctors to do |
| July 9 | 3 | Viuda de Galache | Strung out; into the ring in single file |
| July 10 | 4 | Garci-Grande | A runner caught in the ring; to hospital |
| July 11 | 5 | Sepúlveda de Yeltes | A reckless youth stopped; nobody to the infirmary |
| July 12 | 6 | Conde de la Corte | Fine and normal |
| July 13 | 7 | Concha y Sierra | Nothing out of the ordinary |
| July 14 | 8, last | Miura | A calm last entry into the ring |
Run 1 of 8
The bulls were those of don Salvador Guardiola.2 Emotion came in the greatest quantity: in the passage at the ring entrance formed “el montón mayor de mozos corredores”, the biggest heap of runners, and the bulls jumped “el gran muro de jóvenes”, the great wall of young men; yet they went quickly to the corrals without causing a single horn wound.3
Run 2 of 8
The bulls of don Manuel Arranz, of Salamanca, ran, and that morning “los médicos y practicantes no tuvieron nada que hacer”, the ring doctors had nothing to do.2, 4
Run 3 of 8
The bulls of the day were those of the widow of Galache, of Salamanca.2 It was fine and exciting, because “los toros se despegaron y fueron sembrando la alarma entre los mozos”, the bulls came apart and spread alarm among the runners, who kept their calm, with no reckless people of any kind. “Los seis bichos entraron en el ruedo en fila india”, in single file, and went straight to the corrals.5
Run 4 of 8
The bulls were those of the Vizconde de Garci-Grande.2 The paper wrote of the consequences of certain excesses, “como desgraciadamente ocurrió ayer”: a bull caught a runner “ya en la plaza”, in the ring, and a straggler left behind in Estafeta tossed another youth, giving him nothing worse than a fright. After a long time of anguish that wary straggler was at last got into the corrals by the ring hands and the herdsmen with their sticks and smocks, to the applause of spectators who had earlier protested against those who insisted, suicidally, on calling the bulls.6 That night the Provincial Hospital said the wounded man was much better.7
Run 5 of 8
The bulls were those of Sepúlveda de Yeltes.2 The paper praised the good young men of Pamplona who, acting as zealous guardians of order, firmly stopped a reckless youth who called a bull heading for the corrals; it charged him and he nearly paid dearly when he fell, but came out of it unharmed. “Por la enfermería de la plaza no pasó nadie absolutamente”: nobody at all went through the ring infirmary that morning. The United States ambassador, Mr. Lodge, watched from the town hall box with the civil governor.8
Run 6 of 8
“Bonito y normal”, fine and normal: the bulls, mostly of the Conde de la Corte, ran “un poco separados entre sí”, a little apart, and the young men ran very close to the horns, calm and with a good eye, so that bulls and runners entered the ring together. Only one young man went to the ring infirmary that morning, after a fall.2, 9
Run 7 of 8
“No tuvo nada de particular este encierro de los novillos de Concha y Sierra”: nothing out of the ordinary. Lighter than full bulls, the Concha y Sierra animals ran the course at great speed; one entered the ring alone, well wrapped by the steers, and then the other five together.10
Run 8 of 8, the last
The last run, with the bulls of don Eduardo Miura, of Seville.11 The paper’s photograph of the end of it bore the caption “Esta es la última entrada en la plaza en las fiestas de este año. Fué tranquila”: the last entry into the ring of the year’s fiesta, a calm one.12
Ollaquindía describes Luis García Campos’s 1957 poster as the encierro again, in another light: “Los mozos corren contra el sol, saliendo de la boca de lobo del callejón, con toros de negra pesadilla en los talones”, the young men run into the sun out of the wolf’s mouth of the passage, with nightmare-black bulls at their heels.14
Eight days in a row
In 1957 the bando set a run on every morning from July 7 to July 14, the pattern the fiesta follows today.1
Words of 1957
The heap of runners at the ring was “el gran muro de jóvenes”, the great wall of young men. To call a bull on was “citar”.3, 8
Photographs
The Diario de Navarra printed photographs of the first and last runs of 1957 by Galle and Eusebio Mina. The city’s photo archive, the Fototeca de Pamplona, holds historic photographs of the encierro, free to view online.3, 12, 15
San Fermín 1957 had eight bull runs, every morning from July 7 to July 14, 1957, “a las siete en punto de la mañana, hora de San Cernin”, at seven sharp by the San Cernin clock, as the mayor’s bando set them.1
In 1957 the mayor’s bando set the running of the bulls of San Fermín on eight mornings in a row, from July 7 to July 14, the pattern the fiesta follows today.1
The 1957 running of the bulls sent one runner to hospital: on July 10, 1957 a Garci-Grande bull caught him in the ring, and that night the Provincial Hospital said he was much better. The first run, on July 7, caused not a single horn wound.6, 7, 3
The United States ambassador, Mr. Lodge, watched the running of the bulls of July 11, 1957 from the town hall box with the civil governor. That morning nobody at all went through the ring infirmary.8
The Miura bulls of Eduardo Miura, of Seville, ran the last running of the bulls of San Fermín 1957, on July 14. The Diario de Navarra captioned its photograph “Esta es la última entrada en la plaza en las fiestas de este año. Fué tranquila”: the year’s last entry into the ring, a calm one.11, 12
The bulls of the 1957 running of the bulls came from Salvador Guardiola, Manuel Arranz of Salamanca, the widow of Galache, the Vizconde de Garci-Grande, Sepúlveda de Yeltes, mostly the Conde de la Corte, Concha y Sierra, and Eduardo Miura on July 14.2, 9, 10, 11
Luis García Campos made the San Fermín 1957 poster. Ollaquindía describes it as the encierro in another light: “Los mozos corren contra el sol, saliendo de la boca de lobo del callejón, con toros de negra pesadilla en los talones”, runners racing into the sun with nightmare-black bulls at their heels.14
Numbers on the page refer to this list. Diario de Navarra pages are cited from its archive (hemeroteca); quotations in Spanish are given as printed, in the spelling of the day.
Encierro. “Running of the Bulls 1957: San Fermín in Pamplona.” Encierro.com, November 9, 2026. https://encierro.com/san-fermin-1957/