Parador de Almagro

Last updated
Parador de Almagro
Parador de Almagro 5.jpg
Parador de Almagro
Alternative namesConvento de Santa Catalina de Siena
Hotel chain Paradores
General information
TypeConvent converted to hotel
Architectural style Renaissance (School of Toledo), Baroque
AddressRonda San Francisco, 31
Town or city Almagro (Ciudad Real)
Country Spain
Year(s) built1603–1979
Inaugurated26 September 1979
Design and construction
Architect(s)Nicolás Vergara el Mozo
Renovating team
Architect(s)
Website
Parador de Almagro

The Parador de Almagro, also known as the Convento de Santa Catalina de Siena, is a four-star Parador hotel located in the town of Almagro, in the province of Ciudad Real, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. It was converted from the ruins of the seventeenth century Franciscan Convent of Santa Catalina. [1] It was irretrievably damaged during the [[Spanish Civil War]. In 1969 it was ceded to the Spanish government for conversion into a Parador. [2] Work on the rebuilding and conversion began in 1972. The architects copied the architectural style of the original building, using materials sourced locally. For hotel use the historical layout of the convent was extended into the surrounding grounds with the construction of fifty-five guest rooms, numerous hospitality areas and fourteen patios. [3]

Contents

The Parador was inaugurated by Queen Sofía of Spain in 1979. [1] It is one of the most popular Paradores in Castile-La Mancha, with a capacity for 106 guests. [4] Forty years after the opening of the Parador, portraits seized by the forces of Francisco Franco during the Civil War were found to be displayed on the walls and were subsequently returned to their rightful owners. [5]

The original building and its history

The Franciscan Convent de Santa Catalina in Almagro was built by Jerónimo de Ávila y de la Cueva in memory of his wife Catalina de Sanabria. 15,000 square metres of land had been purchased for its development outside the town walls to the southeast. Construction began in 1603 and lasted fourteen years, although it began to be lived in by Franciscan monks in 1612. The convent continued in operation for 330 years. [1]

It was originally small, consisting of a church and two L-shaped, two-storey conventual buildings which, with the sacristy, enclosed a small cloister. The buildings were located in the northwest corner of the convent garden, much of which was orchard and all of which was enclosed by a high cob wall with tile capping. [3]

The original architect was said to be Nicolás Vergara el Mozo. He designed the buildings in the Renaissance style of the Toledo School and built in brick, cob, stone and wood, topped with Mudéjar tiling. Different kinds of soil, sand, gypsum, lime and stone from the region of La Mancha were the basic elements. [3]

In the 18th century the church was enlarged with two Baroque chapels, and two further conventual buildings, identical to the originals, were erected. In the 19th century another similar conventual building was added. [1] [3]

At the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 the building was severely damaged and many of the monks fled or were killed. Those in the community who remained in the convent finally left in 1942 owing to their reduced numbers. Local people made partial attempts to restore the building and used a section of it as a school. [1] [2]

In 1963 negotiations began between the town council of Almagro and the Spanish government with the aim of converting the building into a Parador de Turismo. On 24 April 1967 the Minister for Information and Tourism, Manuel Fraga, visited Almagro. His inspection resulted in a government grant of 6.5 million pesetas for the project, but the budget for the town council's plans for the conversion far exceeded this figure. [6] Unable to fund the hotel project, in 1969 the town council ceded the building and the land around it to the Ministry of Information and Tourism. [2]

Conversion to a Parador

Preparation

When it was taken over by the Ministry the convent was in a state of ruin and the few walls left standing were in a poor condition following repairs done badly since 1936. Only the church retained its original architectural structure and the damage it had suffered was not serious. [3]

Though the convent was not ceded to the government until 1969, work on the design for a Parador began in 1967, sponsored by the town council of Almagro. The Ministry, once it gained control, appointed two architects: Juan Palazuelo de la Peña  [ es ] (1927–2007) and Ramón Melgarejo Rueda (1927–2010). [7] In a later report on the rehabilitation, Palazuelo commented that "the first and main guideline of the project was to preserve the spirit of the convent and the lines of its architectural style both as a whole and in the smallest detail." He went on: "Without ever losing the original style or architectural characteristics from sight, and without losing the sense of harmony or conventual spirit and atmosphere, plans were drawn up to accomplish the reconversion of the convent into a new building for a new use, that of a National Parador." [3]

Palazuelo and Melgarejo considered the project "una cobra de auténtica artesania de la construcción" (a work of authentic construction craftsmanship) [8] which should make use of historical materials and construction. [7] The objective, while expanding the convent, was to use local materials and building techniques to make the finished construction appear to be of the seventeenth century; to create, as one architectural historian has noted, a stage or film set which would convince guests that they are actually in a genuinely ancient convent, built during the Renaissance. [7]

Research carried out in the ruins before reconstruction began discovered the location of the sacristy, the chapter house, the main original stairway, and a small wine cellar, all of which were respected in the reconstruction. [9] The foundations of conventual buildings whose existence had not previously been known (or which had never been built) were also discovered. [3]

Construction

Patio del Agua Parador de Almagro 14.jpg
Patio del Agua

Construction work began in 1972. [3] During the rebuilding and conversion the convent was greatly enlarged, with the addition of fourteen new patios. Collaborating with the architects was an architectural engineer, Mariano Santana de la Rubia. [3] The restoration and reconstruction of the surviving elements of the property, together with the enlargement, landscaping and furnishing, took seven years to complete, including the purchase of more land when the project was enlarged further during the building work. [7]

Artisan building methods were used in the same way as during the construction of the original convent and, as then, raw materials from around Almagro were utilised. [3] In building the walls, the foundations were laid with rubble and built up with a mixture of brickwork and authentic cob with lime and gypsum mortar in the local style. The bricks were fired in a wood-burning kiln. Cornices were crowned with brick and sometimes carved limestone. Wooden frameworks were carved with lace tracery. Renaissance and baroque wood carvings were reproduced, copying authentic originals. Pavement flooring was laid with handmade, ceramic tiles fired in wood-burning kilns and interspersed with limestone paving hewn into strips and border tiles. Old red pantiles were used for the roofs. Staircase steps and risers were constructed of carved limestone or ceramic tiles and utilised wood nosings. Brick arches, vaults and splays were carved with elements from the styles of the School of Toledo. Typical of the original period, low fireplaces were carved of stone, while wrought iron grilles, railings and grates were forged in the authentic period style. Tile hangings of hand made glazed tiles were made in Talavera de la Reina, utilising Renaissance and baroque designs. Another characteristic local feature were the so-called 'Almagro arches' of splayed brick crowning doors and windows. [3]

Patio de Los Arcos Parador de Almagro 9.jpg
Patio de Los Arcos

Apart from the surviving original cloister, a number of patios were laid out in the expanded construction. Among the larger ones were the Patio de Los Arcos (Arches), the Patio del Boj (Boxwood), the Patio del Agua (Water) and the Patio Bodega (Wine Cellar). The original wine cellar was retained as part of the Parador bar and it features five enormous clay wine casks or amphorae (Spanish: tinajas), each one several metres high. [3]

The interior decoration complied with the aim to reproduce that of the original monastery, and the furniture and other decorative pieces were in many cases antiques, the rest being copied from authentic pieces in the State's collections. [3] The ceiling of the refectory (now the banquet hall and breakfast room of the Parador) was a 16th-century coffered original rescued from the old Renaissance University of Almagro, cut back in places and enlarged in others in order to fit its new location [7]

Completion

The Parador de Almagro was completed in 1979. It had 55 bedrooms, with space for 104 guests. Some minor adjustments have since been made, and there are now 54 bedrooms, with space for 106 guests. The Parador's first director was Valentín Soria Capafons. The price of a room in high season in 1980 was 2,725 pesetas; breakfast cost 160 pesetas and lunch or dinner was 625 pesetas. [10] The Parador was inaugurated by the Spanish Queen Sofía on 26 September 1979. [1]

Parador de Almagro in the present day

The Almagro Parador is among the most popular of the Paradores located in Castilla-La Mancha. The months of December and January are the weakest for bookings, while the strongest months are April for Easter celebrations, and July for the Almagro Classic Theatre Festival (Festival de Teatro Clásico de Almagro  [ es ]). [4]

Portraits seized by Francoist forces displayed in the Parador

Retrato de un Caballero by Felipe Diricksen Retrato de un caballero - por Felipe Diriksen.jpg
Retrato de un Caballero by Felipe Diricksen

Among the pictures which were hung in the Parador at Almagro when it opened were at least three seventeenth century portraits and one nineteenth century portrait which had been forcibly requisitioned by the Francoist army either during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), or shortly after, from the homes of two separate Republican families. [5] The rightful owners had been searching for the pictures for over eighty years, despite their public display at Almagro for at least forty years.

The true ownership of the pictures came to light when Paradores de Turismo and Fundación Mapfre published a catalogue of an exhibition of items from the Paradores' artistic collection, which included the four portraits from Almagro. [11] A member of one of the families and separately an art history teacher who was aware of the missing pictures belonging to the other family, browsing the catalogue, recognised the portraits which had been looted and which the families had subsequently not been able to locate. [5]

In September 2022 in Bilbao the heirs of shipowner and prominent Basque nationalist Ramón de la Sota, whose assets were seized by the fascists in 1936, [12] received back into their possession Retrato de un Caballero, 1623, by Cornelis van der Voort (1576–1624) and La Reina María Cristina de Borbón, c1833, by Luis de la Cruz y Ríos  [ es ] and workshop (1776–1853), both of which had been hanging on the walls of the Parador at Almagro until one of Sota's heirs located them in 2018. The restitution was carried out by order of the Secretary of State for Tourism, Reyes Maroto, whose ministry had claimed ownership for decades. [5] [13] [14]

In November 2022 two further portraits at Almagro were identified as having been plundered by a Francoist command after the Civil War. In the early years of the Franco dictatorship Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz (1893–1984), a historian, politician and Prime Minister and President of the Spanish Republican government in exile from 1959 to 1970, [15] was forcibly deprived by the dictatorship authorities of Retrato de un Caballero and Retrato de una Dama by Felipe Diricksen (1590–1679). The former portrait is well known to Parador guests as it was displayed for over forty years in the ground floor corridor leading from the hotel's reception to the refectory banqueting hall and the bar-cafeteria. After being notified of the portraits' location by an art history teacher, Sánchez-Albornoz's son, Nicolás Sánchez-Albornoz  [ es ] (born 1926), sought their restitution. [5]

Publicity of the discovery at the Parador de Almagro of the missing pictures led to calls for Paradores de Turismo to research the true ownership of all the pre-Civil War items in their approximately 10,000-piece artistic collection which is spread over their 98 establishments. [5] [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castilla–La Mancha</span> Autonomous community of Spain

Castilla–La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo, and its largest city is Albacete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciudad Real</span> Municipality in Castilla–La Mancha, Spain

Ciudad Real is a municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuenca, Spain</span> Municipality in Castile–La Mancha, Spain

Cuenca is a city and municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. It is the capital of the province of Cuenca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcázar de San Juan</span> Municipality in Castile-La Mancha, Spain

Alcázar de San Juan is a city and municipality of Spain located in the province of Ciudad Real, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. It lies on the plain of La Mancha. From the 13th to the 19th century the history of Alcázar is strongly linked to the Grand Priory of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The city became a railway hub in the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parador</span> Kind of luxury hotel in Spanish-speaking countries

A parador, in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries was an establishment where travelers could seek lodging, and usually, food and drink, similar to an inn. In Spain since 1928, a Parador is a state-owned luxury hotel, usually located in a converted historic building such as a monastery or castle, or in a modern building in a nature area with a special appeal or with a panoramic view of a historic and monumental city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinchón</span> Municipality in Spain

Chinchón is a town and municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Located 50 km south-east of the city of Madrid, the municipality covers an area of 115.91 km2. As of 2018, it has a population of 5,239. Its historic centre, with a notable main square, was declared a Heritage Site in 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabildo of Buenos Aires</span> Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina

The Cabildo of Buenos Aires is the public building in Buenos Aires that was used as a seat of the town council during the colonial era and the government house of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Today the building is used as a museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Almagro, Ciudad Real</span> Municipality in Castile-La Mancha, Spain

Almagro is a town and municipality situated in Ciudad Real province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. A tourist destination, Almagro is designated a Conjunto histórico, a type of conservation area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hacienda Juanita</span> Historic coffee plantation and estate in Maricao, Puerto Rico

Hacienda Juanita is a coffee plantation hacienda in the town of Maricao, Puerto Rico. The design is based on typical Puerto Rican culture, and was commissioned by the wife of a Spanish official. Coffee production at the hacienda declined from the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puerto Rico Tourism Company</span> Government-owned corporation

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company is the government-owned corporation in charge of tourism matters and regulations in Puerto Rico. The company was created during Governor Luis A. Ferré's administration (1969-1973) to coordinate the marketing and growth of Puerto Rico's tourism sector. It is governed by a board of directors and an executive director appointed by the Governor of Puerto Rico with the advice and consent of the Senate of Puerto Rico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corral de comedias</span> Spanish open-air theatre from the 16th and 17th centuries

Corral de comedias is a type of open-air theatre specific to Spain. In Spanish all secular plays were called comedias, which embraced three genres: tragedy, drama, and comedy itself. During the Spanish Golden Age, corrals became popular sites for theatrical presentations in the early 16th century when the theatre took on a special importance in the country. The performance was held in the afternoon and lasted two to three hours, there being no intermission, and few breaks. The entertainment was continuous, including complete shows with parts sung and danced. All spectators were placed according to their sex and social status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ciudad Real Cathedral</span> Historic site in Ciudad Real, Spain

The Holy Priory Church Cathedral Basilica of the Military Order of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Prado of Ciudad Real is located in Ciudad Real, Autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. Construction began in the 15th century in Gothic style, although it has elements of late Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque styles; it has undergone many restorations with the first remodelling credited to Alfonso X since the Romanesque period. It was completed in the mid 16th century after construction of the roof vaults. The tower was built in the early 19th century. The structure is a monument indexed in the Spanish heritage register of Bien de Interés Cultural under the reference RI-51-0000514.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convento de San Gil, Toledo</span>

The Covento de San Gil currently houses the Cortes of Castilla-La Mancha. It was a convent and currently a government building located in the city of Toledo dating to the 17th century. The Dicalced Franciscans, or gilitos, arrived in this city in the middle of the 16th century, and established it in 1557 in the vicinity of the Ermita de la Virgen de la Rosa. Later, in the early-17th century, two brothers, Francisco and Juan de Herrera, donated to the friars 16,000 ducats for the construction of the new convent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convento de la Madre de Dios, Toledo</span>

The Convento de la Madre de Dios is a Dominican convent located in the city of Toledo. It was founded at the end of the 15th century as a nunnery by Leonor and María de Silva, daughters of the Count of Cifuentes. It was a cloistered monastery, a Guardia Civil barracks, and finally a university campus after its acquisition by the University of Castilla-La Mancha to expand the facilities of the Faculty of Juridical and Social Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convento de la Purísima Concepción, Toledo</span>

The Convento de la Purísima Concepción, also called Convento de Capuchinas, is a convent located in the city of Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pazo of the Counts of Maceda</span> Manor house in Pontevedra, Spain

The Palace of the Counts of Maceda, or Casa del Barón in Pontevedra, Spain, is an original Renaissance pazo dating from the 16th century. It is currently a four-star hotel belonging to the Paradores network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convent and church of Saint Francis, Pontevedra</span> Gothic church in Pontevedra, Spain

The Convent of St. Francis is a Franciscan convent located in the city centre of Pontevedra (Spain), overlooking the Plaza de la Herrería. The Gothic church of San Francis is attached to the convent on the southeast side.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paradores</span> Spanish hotel chain

Paradores de Turismo de España S.M.E.S.A., branded as Paradores, is a Spanish state-owned chain of luxury hotels that are usually located in historic buildings or in nature areas with a special appeal. Its very first parador was inaugurated on 9 October 1928 in Navarredonda de Gredos (Ávila). As of 2022, it operates 97 paradores in Spain and one in Portugal, with 5,988 rooms in total. Every parador has its own restaurant offering the regional gastronomy of its area.

José Luis Picardo Castellón was a Spanish architect, muralist, draughtsman and illustrator, usually known professionally without his matronymic as José Luis Picardo. As an architect he worked in contrasting architectural languages throughout his career, from the acclaimed modernist headquarters of the Fundación Juan March in Madrid to the neo-Renaissance style School of Equestrian Art in Jerez de la Frontera, by way of the many medieval-inspired hotel projects he carried out for the Paradores de Turismo de España. While still a student of architecture he made a name for himself as a muralist, embellishing many significant modern interiors in Spain. His drawing skills and his abilities in perspective brought him to the attention of a number of leading architects after the Spanish Civil War, and for some years he provided illustrations, cartoons and covers for two of the foremost Spanish architectural magazines. He also designed interiors, furniture and light fittings for many of his architectural projects. In later life he was elected an Academician of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and was awarded the Antonio Camuñas Prize for Architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle of Monterrey</span> Building in Monterrei , Spain

The Castle of Monterrey is a 15th-century castle at Monterrey, in Orense, Galicia. It is located at what was then a strategic point on the frontier between the kingdoms of Galicia and Portugal.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ""Información"". Ayuntamiento de Almagro.
  2. 1 2 3 "Almagro y su Parador Nacional", Noticiario Turismo, Ministerio de Transportes, Turismo y Comunicaciones, Secretaria de Estado de Turismo, Madrid, Suplemento, No 364, October 1981.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Juan Palazuelo de la Peña (translated by Sue Heringman), "The National Parador of Almagro, Ciudad Real", The Recovery of Historic Buildings for Tourism: The Spanish Experience, Tecniberia, Madrid, 1986, ISBN   84-87092-01-2
  4. 1 2 A.Criado, "Sube la ocupación en los paradores de Almagro y Manzanares", La Tribune de Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real, 11 February 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ""Nicholás Sánchez-Albornoz reclama dos cuadros robados por el franquismo colgados en el Parador de Almagro"". elDiario.es.
  6. ""Parador de Almagro"". Luis y los Camareros de Cangas de Onis.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 María José Rodriguez Pérez, "Patrimonio y Turismo. La Rehabilitación de Conventos y Monasterios en la 'Red de Paradores'", Estudios Turísticos, No 199, 2014, pp9-33
  8. Juan Palazuelo de la Peña and Ramón Melgarejo Rueda, Proyecto de terminación de obras parador nacional de Almagro, Ciudad Real, Centro de Almacenamiento de Documentación Administrativa, Ministerio de Información y Turismo, Madrid, 1970.
  9. "Vive la Historia: Parador de Almagro" (PDF). golfenparadores.es.
  10. ""El Parador de Almagro cumple 40 años"". Lanza: Diario de La Mancha.
  11. Paradores de Turismo: La Collección Artística, Paradores de Turismo de España, Madrid, 2015, ISBN   978-84-608-1446-7
  12. ""Biographies: Ramón de la Sota y Llano (1857-1936)"". European Route of Industrial Heritage.
  13. ""News: Sota and the Civil War"". Arte Ederren Bioko Museoa/Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao.
  14. ""Reyes Maroto presides in Bilbao over the restitution of two paintings seized during the Civil War"". Europa Press News/Getty Images.
  15. ""Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz"". Fundación Princesa de Asturias.
  16. María Gimeno Munuera, "Las Obras de Arte de Paradores: Descubrir una Colección", Estudios Turísticos, no 217-218, 2019, pp133-140, Subdirección General de Conocimiento y Estudios Turísticos, Instituto de Turismo de España, Secretaría de Estado de Turismo.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Parador de Almagro at Wikimedia Commons 38°53′10″N3°42′50″W / 38.88610°N 3.71376°W / 38.88610; -3.71376