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Castile-La Mancha in Spain Offers Full Cultural Calendar
Posted on Monday, May 23 @ Hora de verano romance by webmaster |
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An extensive calendar of more than 2,000 artist.
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This year the region that was home to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is spending $66 million to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes' acclaimed masterpiece. An extensive calendar of more than 2,000 art, photographic and book exhibitions, concerts, from early music to rock, dance performances, from classical to contemporary, theatrical productions, conferences and other activities are in store for visitors. In the summer, Quixote-themed plays will be staged in open-air theatres and plaza mayors. Exhibitions such as "Don Quixote in Contemporary Art," "Don Quixote in Ceramics," and "Dalí and Don Quixote" will be on display.
Visitors will have the opportunity to travel Europe's longest ecological route, the Ruta de Don Quixote which Castile-La Mancha established last year.
Quixote Festival
This summer, theatrical performances - many Quixote themed - will grace the stages, main plazas, bullrings, cloisters and patios of El Toboso, Esquivias, Argamasilla de Alba and other towns and villages throughout Castile-La Mancha. In August, the renowned Almagro Classical Theatre Festival will showcase Cervantes' works in Europe's last remaining medieval theatre. A traveling tartina will come to 50 villages which do not have their own auditoriums.
Spring and Fall Program
More than 45 performances have been scheduled by the region's department of culture:
28 concerts (symphony and chamber orchestras, early music chamber groups)
8 plays will be staged by the El Brujo Theatre, the Prague Black Theatre and by street performers
7 dance performances (classical, contemporary and traditional Spanish)
Concerts
And it's not all high brow. Exciting concerts of jazz, pop, rock and heavy metal music will draw younger visitors.
Lenny Kravitz will appear at Cuenca's La Fuensanta Stadium on June 13 Elton John and his Band are set to perform at Guadalajara's Pedro Escartín Stadium on June 30 Tickets range from about $30 to $47, or 24 to 38 euros and can be booked on line at www.ccm.es and www.elcorteingles.es/entradas
Large exhibitions
Seven major exhibitions have been organized by the regional government:
Opening in May is "Don Quixote in Contemporary Art" at the Provincial Museum of Albacete, running through September.
Also through September the ethnographic "La Mancha of Don Quixote. The Truth with the Fantasy" is being presented at Puertollano's Auditorium and "Don Quixote in Ceramics" will be at Talavera de la Reina's exhibition site.
In September "Art in the Times of Don Quixote" will open at the Old Secondary School in Ciudad Real featuring 100 European works of art from the early 17th century and will run through January 2006.
Two exhibitions will open in November. In Cuenca at the Casa Zavala "Dalí and Don Quixote" will display a selection of the artist's watercolors from a 1945 edition and "Lattice Windows: Treasure Hidden in the Convents of Castile-La Mancha" will reveal rarely-seen 16th and 17th century works at the Santa Cruz Museum in Toledo.
"Don Quixote: The Shadow of the Knight" showcases 200 works about the world of knights winds up this month at the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara.
About one thousand additional exhibitions - engravings, photographs and sculpture - on related Quixote themes are scheduled through the region and the rest of Spain.
Arguably the most important novel in Spanish literature, Don Quixote was written by Miguel de Cervantes in 1605. A country gentleman and retired scholar, becomes so obsessed with tales of chivalry he goes "completely out of his mind" and becomes a knight errant himself. The novel recounts his adventures: fighting giants who are really windmills, mistaking sheep for an evil army and rescuing a damsel in distress. The regional government is distributing over one million editions of "Don Quixote," including 200,000 for children. Six books covering topics such as the flora, fauna and the "Women and Don Quixote" are being published.
Cultural activities scheduled by Castilla-La Mancha will travel across international borders. From now through July, "Images from Don Quixote" will visit Morocco and Great Britain. The "Spanish samurai" is the focus of Spain's pavilion in Aichi, Japan through September. From November to January, Madrid's Centro Cultural de la Villa will showcase "The World in the Times of Cervantes." Dallas's Meadows Museum will present "Tapestries inspired by Don Quixote" from September to November.
Showcasing the places where the Knight Errant's fictitious adventures took place more than 400 years ago, the Route of Don Quixote presents a striking display of what this Spanish region has to offer. The ruta starts in the region's capital of Toledo - a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the capital of Spain until the 16th century - and continues through five provinces and some 2,000 sites of cultural interest including 20 nature reserves. Brochures detailing the ten different itineraries and the Castile-La Mancha region are available online. Designated a green and sustainable tour, the ruta can be done on foot, by bicycle or by car. Visitors can stay at more than 50 hotels, inns, agrotourism lodgings and paradors. Seventy percent is adapted for disabled travelers.
The regional government of Castile-La Mancha and its tourism department along with the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Committee for the 400th Anniversary of Don Quixote are organizing the celebrations. Go to www.donquijotedelamancha2005.com
For more information about Spain, contact the Tourist Office of Spain at 1-212-265-8822 or www.okspain.org
Note: from travelvideo.tv
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