Literary urbanrouteA Coruña
11. Ancient Provintial Prison Paseo Alcalde Francisco Vázquez,
43 Inaugurated in 1927, within its walls common prisoners and
politicians lived together such as Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín, who was
also in the Cantabrian prison El Dueso where he started writing
Retorno a Tagen Ata (1971). This literary work, key in the new
Galician narrative, was finished in its cell in A Coruña. The
prison stopped operating in 1999 and it is awaiting its
rehabilitation.
5. Municipal Palace Plaza de María Pita, 1Manuel María Puga y
Parga started writing the newspaper El Noroeste under the pseudonym
“Picadillo”. He was the major of A Coruña on two occasions, but he
has gone down in history for his deep knowledge of gastronomy. A
versatile journalist and skilfull master of irony, his book La
cocina práctica (1905), with a foreword from Emilia Pardo Bazán, is
an absolute reference point for popular Galician gastronomy.
6. Emilia Pardo Bazán House Museum | Galician Royal Academy
Tabernas, 11 Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921) was born and grew up
here. Writer, critic, senior professor … there are not enough
adjectives to define her. Her aristocratic origins gave the
countess an exquisite education. The author of Los Pazos de Ulloa
was a strong defensor of women rights. Nowadays the family house
shares the space with the headquarters of the Galician Royal
Academy in appreciation for the institution which appointed her
honourary president since its foundation in 1906.
8. Campo da Leña (current plaza de España)Manuel Rivas, one of
our great contemporary writers, was born not very far from here –
in Marola Street, the well known neighbourhood of Monte Alto – and
it is not difficult also to come across him in this area. The Campo
da Leña, just a few meters from María Pita square, is one of the
most emblematic places of the Carnival. Rivas sets Los libros arden
mal (Spanish and Galician Critic Award) in the city where he was
born.
4. Regional Bookshop | Cova Céltica Riego de Agua, 16 The
Regional Bookshop, which was also a printing house, was here. In
1893 a group of regional intellectuals formally started a social
gathering called Cova Céltica; Manuel Murguía, Pondal, Lugrís
Freire, Martínez Salazar and Uxío Carré Aldao itself, owner of the
stablishment, were amongst this group members. In 1990, La Regional
moved to calle Real and later on returned to Riego del Agua, until
its closure in 1908. Cova Céltica was heavily involved in the
creation of the Galician Royal Academy.
9. San Amaro Cemetery Orillamar, s/n According to the Coruña
chronicler Julio Rodríguez Yordi, San Amaro, already bicentennial
“has enough nature to make the desolation disappear. Together with
the view of the blue sea and the purple mounts”. Here rest great
figures such as Eduardo Pondal, Curros Enríquez, Manuel Murguía,
Juana de Vega, Fernández Flórez or Luís Seoane. Due to its artistic
and cultural heritage and its condition of unique setting, it has
been part of the European Cemeteries Route since 2013.
7. Rosalía de Castro House Príncipe, 3 We arrive in the house
where Rosalía de Castro and her husband, the poet Manuel Murguía,
resided between 1872 and 1873. Rosalía is the great Galician author
of the 19th century, an indispensable figure of the literary scene
and almost a myth, thanks to masterpieces such as Cantares
Gallegos, Follas Novas or En las orillas del Sar. Strong and
committed woman who used Galician language in literature when
nearly nobody did so. She embodies, maybe more tan any other
character, the collective identity of Galicia.
10. Hércules TowerAvda. de Navarra, s/n A World Heritage site
since 2009, the Hercules Tower is the oldest Roman lighthouse (1st
century) still in operation and the symbol of the city. The
mythology is mixed with its millenary history. The Lebor Gabála
Érenn or Book of the Invasions, compilation of Irish legends, could
identify it as the place of the Breogán Tower. Emilia Pardo Bazán
and Wenceslao Fernández Flórez honored it in their writings, as
well as the historian Manuel Amor Meilán.
This literary route is full of noble areas and humble spaces
which capture real and imagined stories starring soldiers and
sailors, writers, lawyers and journalists, memories of truncated
and recovered projects that are part of the – forever collective –
history of the Galician and Coruña literature.
Our first appointment is in the Cantones. We go for a walk
through its 19th century Méndez Núñez gardens, flanked by statues
of many of our artists and writers and the inspiration for the
writer Wenceslao Fernández Flórez in El bosque animado.
After several stops, we go through María Pita square, always
majestic and scenic; the route flows on to the Campo da leña, very
close to the Old Town, on whose cobbled squares and corners walked
Rosalía de Castro and Emilia Pardo Bazán, its more distinguished
neighbours.
From this point it is possible already to feel the sea, which
takes us to San Amaro where lie the remains of some of the great
writers and intellectuals, women and men of the Rexurdimento, the
literary and political movement in the 19th centrury which changed
Galician culture forever. The remains of Conchita, the younger
sister of Picasso, also lie there, who died in 1895, when the
paintor’s family lived in A Coruña.
And again the sea, but this time watched by the Hercules Tower,
where we are taken towards the end of our walk. “The heights barely
exceed a hundred meters, but from them the unmistakable horizon of
the Ártabro Gulf and the city (…) is within reach ”, narrated the
great Galician writer and gastronome Álvaro Cunqueiro. And it is
there, opposite the Atlantic next to the old prison where we bid
farewell, admiring the world’s most ancient Roman lighthouse.
“Apart from the light and the sea and the high tower, there is
the land and the city. In La Coruña there is the romantic land and
the Romanesque stone, and the Old Town has a clear and evident
antiquity and tradition: its eternal Galician root (…)”
Álvaro Cunqueiro (1911-1981)
A Coruña
A Coruña Tourist OfficeEdificio Sol (Sol Building)Sol, s/n.
15003 A CoruñaGalicia - SpainT: +34 981 184 344F: +34 981 184
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1. Méndez Núñez GardensCreated in 1868, Méndez Núñez gardens are
an open air museum. The granite architectural complex sculpted by
Francisco Asorey between 1928-1934 and dedicated to Curros Enríquez
stands out. The tributes to our literature continue with the
monuments to Castelao, Valle-Inclán, Concepción Arenal, Emilia
Pardo Bazán or Daniel Carballo, amongst other illustrious
characters.
2. A Nosa Terra Cantón Grande, 16 The editorial and
administration department of the newspaper A Nosa Terra was here,
in the office of the lawyer and writer Xosé Iglesias Roura. In its
initial stages the publication was bilingual, but after it was
edited only in Galician, becoming an important means of spreading
the language of Galicia. The first edition was issued on the 14th
November 1916 with Antón Villar Ponte as the director.
3. Nós Publishing house | Irmandades da FalaCalle Real, 36 A
plaque in its facade commemorates the centenary of the birth of
Ánxel Casal, who founded in 1927 the Nós Publishing house. He was a
member of the Irmandades da Fala (movement founded in 1916 in A
Coruña, which enabled a great cultural and literary activity), and
one of its headquarters was here. Nós was the first modern
publishing house of Galicia and it was a watershed in publishing,
leading the way for far-reaching publications in support of
Galician autonomy such as the Nós magazine.
