sábado, 7 de abril de 2012

THE MODERNIST HERITAGE IN SITGES: THE SANTIAGO RUSIÑOL COLLECTION

The Cau Ferrat, the modernist palace owned by Santiago Rusiñol in Sitges, is closed, it is under restoration process, but very near from there, in the Miramar building, you can watch some  the most important paintings and other objects from Santiago Rusiñol collection. After the visit of the exhibition you will have done a stroll around this amazing caracter, Santiago Rusiñol, a Catalonian multifaceted artist: painter, writer and collector. I wanted to share with you some of the paintings I love the most. The temporal exhibition will finish the 25th November 2012.

Saint Peter by El Greco, the famous paiter from the XVII century

Saint Magdalena, again El Greco

The morphine by Santiago Rusiñol

The Medal by Santiago Rusiñol

Young lady from Sitges by Santiago Rusiñol

The musicians from the Sitges Band by Santiago Rusiñol


viernes, 6 de abril de 2012

TARRAGONA, THE ANCIENT ROMAN CAPITAL

Tarragona is the capital of one of the four Catalonian provinces, is 100 km far away from Barcelona. The latin name of the city was Tarraco, and Tarraco become the capital of Iberia 2.000 years ago. Iberia was the biggest province of the Roman Empire. The reason of the importance of Tarraco as capital of Iberia is the fact that Emperor August lived in Tarraco during two years because the war againts the astures and cantabros. Strolling around the narrow lanes of the nowadays Tarragona you can find a lot of this glorious roman past.

Roman wall from the III and II century BC with megalithic stones at the bottom, you can compare the lady passing underneath with the size of the stones


The gothic Cathedral has been built on the top of the ancient Roman Temple, the church is consacrated to Saint Tecla and Saint Magi, both Saint's days correspond with the birth of August Emperor 23rd September, and the death of August Emperor 19th August

Corridors underneath of the Roman Circurs for arriving to the spectators seats, the circus had capacity for 30.000 people, and the population of Tarraco was around 40.000 inhabitants

View of the arena of Roman Circus from the I century AC used for horse and chariot races

Very near of the Mediterranean Sea, the Roman Anphitheater site of gladiators fights