Lorca's academic records in the faculties of Law and Philosophy. A glass jar with soil from Aracataca, the hometown of Gabriel García Márquez. Buero Vallejo's pipe. Nicanor Parra's old typewriter. Alicia Alonso's worn-out sneakers. Joaquín Sabina's bowler hat or a copy of 'Don Quixote' signed by the Princess of Asturias. They are some of the precious legacies that the Caja de Las Letras of the Cervantes Institute treasures and that are now exhibited for the first time in public.
They can be enjoyed until next June 16 in the exhibition 'The greatest wealth. Selected legacies from the Caja de las Letras' that reveals part of its treasures by opening some of its 1,800 security boxes to show a hundred of the legacies kept in the old vault of what was the Spanish Bank of the Río de la Plata.
There are manuscripts, drafts, documents, books, pens, glasses, typewriters, diplomas, press clippings, letters, photographs and drawings, folders, hats or dresses.
Copy of Don Quixote signed by the Princess of Asturias, Leonor de Borbón.
Virginia Carrasco
The Princess of Asturias recorded her commitment to culture in her first official solo event on March 24, 2021 at the Cervantes. That day he deposited in the 2021 box the copy of the Constitution whose first article he read on October 31, 2018 – also at the Cervantes Institute – on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, and the volume of Don Quixote that he read with the Infanta Sofía in the International Book Day 2020.
The musician Joaquín Sabina bequeathed one of the legendary bowlers that he wears at his concerts and a complete collection of the legendary 'Sur' magazine. In 2022, his colleague Miguel Ríos delivered the original manuscript of 'Vuelvo a Granada', “a song that suddenly reached the souls of people who had to leave their home and wanted to return.”
Joaquín Sabina's bowler hat along with a manuscript and two copies of Sur magazine.
Virginia Carrasco
A pen by the poet Miguel Hernández is exhibited, along with a first edition of his earliest collection of poems, 'Perito en lunas' (1933). The black train dress that Ángela Molina wore in the film 'The Things of Love' or the passports with which Rafael Alberti and his wife returned to Spain in 1977 after almost forty years of exile.
Secrets
There are mysteries yet to be revealed, such as the “secret of the climb” that Juan Marsé included in his legacy or the contents of a red velvet box that treasures the legacy of Nuria Espert that will be known, by express wish of the actress, in 2035. , when he turns 100 years old and that it is of a “spiritual” nature.
Glass jar with soil from Aracataca, García Márquez's hometown.
Virginia Carrasco
Also on display is the music box and a flute from publisher Mario Muchnik's childhood; the watch of the Hispanist John Elliott, which he bought in Switzerland at the age of 16 with the money obtained from his first book; the ring of the father of the dancer Víctor Ullate or the brass bracelet that the father of the Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska wore while fighting in World War II.
The legacies have been deposited since 2007. The writer Francisco Ayala, winner of the 1991 Cervantes Prize, inaugurated this cultural ritual. His legacy is in the showcase dedicated to the Cervantes awards, with the Miguel Delibes, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, the Uruguayan Ida Vitale, the Nicaraguan Sergio Ramírez; Ana María Matute, the Chilean Jorge Edwards, the Mexican José Emilio Pacheco, Eduardo Mendoza, or the latest winner, Luis Mateo Díez.
García Lorca's University Record.
Virginia Carrasco.
Special mention deserves the Los Machado Mailbox, which contains in box number 1722 letters, poems, writings and drawings that personalities, politicians, anonymous citizens and schoolchildren dedicated to Antonio and Manuel Machado. In addition, an urn with soil from three Machadian cities is on display: Seville (where they were born), Madrid (where both lived for many years) and Colliure (where Antonio died in exile and is buried).
Letters posted in the Machado Mailbox.
Virginia Carrasco
These flows are “symbols of lives dedicated to literature, art, music, cinema, theater, journalism or science, which marry high culture with the popular,” Luis García Montro highlighted when presenting the exhibition, director of Cervantes. “The true wealth of a community is its culture and the best way to commit to the future is to commit to the past,” he added when inaugurating the exhibition that opens the 'Cervantine Week' celebrations on the occasion of Book Day.
Armored women
Women occupy a prominent space in the Caja de la Letras. Since 2022, Cervantes has celebrated International Women's Day with a collective legacy to support equal rights between both sexes. The first legatees were the artists Cristina Iglesias and Lita Cabellut, the writers Gioconda Belli, Laura Restrepo and Maruja Torres; the lexicographer María Moliner, the actress Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, the researcher María Vallet-Regí and the singer Carmen Linares.
The slippers of the Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso.
Virginia Carrasco
In 2023, the legacy in 8-M corresponded to Carmen Caffarel, linguist and researcher and director of the Cervantes Institute (2007-2012); also, in memoriam, to Carmen de Burgos, journalist and writer, better known as Colombine; to the writer and activist, María Lejárraga, and the philosopher María Zambrano. This year the legatees were the singer-songwriter Rosa León, the actress Marisa Paredes and the writer and journalist Rosa Montero, who delivered, among other objects, a letter from Ursula K. Leguin, “a wonderful North American writer whom I recognize as a teacher.” he confessed.
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