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Cervantes House

Cartagena, Campo de Cartagena, Murcia

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Cervantes House

Monument · Cartagena, Campo de Cartagena, Murcia

The first major work of the architect Víctor Beltrí in Cartagena (1897-1900), built for the Cervantes family on Calle Mayor, with an Art Nouveau façade of floral motifs and tilework preserved intact. The commission, from the mining entrepreneur Serafín Cervantes Contreras, was Beltrí's first opportunity to introduce Catalan modernisme to the city, and the result earned him numerous commissions from the local bourgeoisie. On the ground floor was installed the Café España restaurant, whose display of suspiros (meringue sweets) inspired the composer Antonio Álvarez Alonso in 1902 to write the pasodoble Suspiros de España. The building, of four storeys in Novelda marble and brick, displays on its pediment symbols of Commerce, Industry and Mining; of its original interior decoration only the façade survives.

Photo: Nanosanchez (Public domain)

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