| Graceful In Gold |
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UNITED KINGDOM
 SUMMER PEARLS: London's architectural gems along the banks of the Thames
MUSIC: Europe's best pop and rock gatherings
BAGPIPES: The plaintive sounds of Scotland
SUBMARIUM: Journey to the bottom of the sea
FESTIVALS: Fun in the sun in West Belfast
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FRANCE and SWITZERLAND
VULCANIA: Blow your top at France's volcano park
ART: Berthe Morisot, the unknown Impressionist
FESTIVALS: Aix-en-Provence has it all
ART: The Barbizon School painters come to life
ART: Take a stroll through medieval gardens of delight
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SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ITALY and GREECE
SALAMANCA: The city splashes out on culture
MUSIC: God's rock stars: the singing Greek monks
FOOD: Italy's unusual culinary delights
FILM: Great outdoor viewing in Rome
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GERMANY and BENELUX
HORTICULTURE: The world blossoms at Floriade
BRUGGE: Belgium's second city shines
ART: Berlin's homage to multiculturalism
ART: The best of the world's artists on show at Documenta 11
DANCE: Czech twin ballerinos steal the show in Hamburg
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CENTRAL and EASTERN EUROPE
ART: Yugoslavia's modern art museum is back
ART: A retrospective of Samizdat art and writing from the Communist bloc
GRAZ: Austria's little-known city of culture
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THE NORDIC REGION
DESIGN: Denmark celebrates Arne Jacobsen
MUSEUM: Get a blast from the past at Stalin World
STOCKHOLM: Welcome to the Venice of the North
MUSIC: Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on tour
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PLUS
LISTINGS: Other things to see and do in each region |
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Salamanca's ancient streets welcome visitors to a City of Culture
By KATE NOBLE
At the heart of the city of Salamanca is the Plaza Mayor, possibly the most beautiful of all Spain's many historic squares. Enclosed by a continuous four-story building adorned with iron balconies and plaques depicting Spanish kings from Alfonso XI to the present-day Juan Carlos I, the Plaza is the city's social hub, lined with bustling cafés and bars. Perhaps the most graceful city in a country famed for its beauty, Salamanca was designated a World Heritage site by unesco in 1988 for its narrow streets crowded with fine examples of Gothic, Moorish, Renaissance and Baroque styles. This year Salamanca has been honored again, chosen a European City of Culture, and it is celebrating with a feast of exhibitions and concerts.
Though its history dates back to the second century, the ancient city is remarkably young and vibrant thanks to its university. That, too, is very old, founded in 1215 by Alfonso IX, and is still one of the most attractive in Spain, with more than 30,000 students, including 10,000 at its highly successful language school. Behind the lovely Renaissance façade, covered with floral motifs, medallions and heraldic symbols, lie the huge library, with 160,000 volumes, and lecture rooms open to the public. These include the evocative Sala de Fray Luis de León, named for a professor who, after being imprisoned and tortured for five years by the Inquisition, returned to his lecture room with the words, "Dicebamus hesterna die!" ("As we were saying yesterday!")
Close by the university stand Salamanca's pair of cathedrals; the Catedral Vieja — the old one — built in the 12th century, is famous for its distinctive media naranja (orange segment) dome and Nicolás Florentino's massive retablo, with 53 paintings of the Virgin and Child surmounted by a vivid Last Judgment. The gloriously late Gothic Catedral Nueva was begun in 1512 as a buttress for the older church, which was in danger of collapsing. Like the university's façade, the west front is a triumph of the intricate Spanish decorative style, known as plateresque from its resemblance to the silversmith's art, which is particularly suited to the soft golden sandstone from nearby Villamayor.
The splendor of Salamanca's tradition of elaborate decoration is nowhere better shown than on the Casa de las Conchas, or House of Shells. Built in the 15th century as a residence for Ferdinand and Isabella, it features walls covered with the symbol of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. The love of ornament has given the city another wonderful building, the Casa Lys, now a museum of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. The structure is itself Art Nouveau and looks to be half constructed from colorfully painted glass. It contains more than 1,500 late-19th and early-20th century items, including vases and lamps designed by Emile Gallé and a superb collection of Lalique scent bottles.
During its year as a European City of Culture, Salamanca is putting on a dazzling array of more than 700 theater, music, art and dance events performed by arts companies from all over Spain and around the world. An essential part of Spanish cultural tradition is bullfighting — regarded as not just a sport, but an art too — which will also feature in the celebrations. The region around Salamanca rivals Andalusia in breeding bulls for the corrida, with the largest annual fiesta held over four days around June 12, feast day of the city's patron saint, John of Sahagún. While Salamanca's diverse cultural program feeds the spirit, visitors' physical hunger will find the local cuisine excellent, especially local Ribera del Duero wines and the Castilian specialities jamon Grijuelo (serrano ham), asado de tostón (roast suckling pig) and cordero lechal (milk-fed lamb). With such a bewilderment of attractions, the city more than lives up to the compliment paid by the great Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote, "Salamanca bewitches with the wish to return all those who have enjoyed its pleasures."
Reported by JANE WALKER/Salamanca
Salamanca: European City of Culture 2002
• Tickets: For all events, see www.elcorteingles.es or www.servicaixa.com
• Phone: +34 902 20 30 30
• Website: www.salamanca2002.org
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VAN THE MAN: Veteran rock star Van Morrison in concert. Plaza de Toros. June 28