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City Guide - Santiago de Compostela - Culture | ||
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Culture Cultural life in Santiago de Compostela is intimately tied up with the promotion of Galician identity. The University provides continuous input to local cultural life, with plays, film screenings and cultural events taking place constantly during term-time. Students make up the numbers at most of the Galician parades and cultural festivals. Event listings can be found in El Compostelán and Santiago 7 Días, available in bars and cafés and from the tourist office. Music: The Auditorio de Galicia, Avenida do Burgo das Nacions (tel: (981) 571 026 (reservations) or 573 855 (information)) is the chief venue for musical performance in the city. It is also home to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia. Operas are staged from May (sometimes April) to June. There is also the Xornadas de Musica en Compostela in August, when contemporary music is presented in the antique setting of the Capilla Real of the Hostal dos Reis Católicos, Praza do Obradoiro 1 (tel: (981) 582 200), and at the Auditorio de Galicia. Theatre: The Centro Dramatico Galego provides a focus for Galician dramatic expression. The Teatro Principal, Rúa Nova 21 (tel: (981) 586 555), is the chief theatrical venue for the city and the national theatre of Galicia. Its output peaks during the celebrations of St James in July; over Christmas and New Year it hosts a puppet festival for children. Alternative theatre is presented at the Teatro Galán, Gomez Ulla 7 (tel: (981) 585 166); Sala Nasa, San Lourenzo, 51-53 (tel: (981) 573 998), and Salon Teatro, Rúa Nova 34 (tel: (981) 581 111). Dance: Traditional Galician dance is showcased at the street festivals and pageants in Santiago de Compostela. The Teatro Principal and the Sala Galán also host dance events (see Theatre section). Film: The Cineuropa Festival in November is Santiago de Compostela's film festival, organised by the Teatro Principal. Cinemas in the city include: Cine Valle-Inclán, Rúa Fernando III El Santo 12 (tel: (981) 597 088); Cine Yago, Rúa do Vilar 51 (tel: (981) 582 029); Cines Area Central, Polígono Fontiñas (tel: (981) 560 394); and Multicines Compostela, Ramón Piñeiro 3-5 (tel: (981) 560 342). Cultural events: The carnival in late February - Antroido, turns local neighbourhoods into crazy festival sites. Ascension Day in May brings festivities throughout the city as well as a cattle fair. There are various processions for different saints throughout the year - St Lazarus in March, St Mark and St Peter in April and La Semana Santa (Holy Week) at Easter. Highlights include Galicia Day and St James the Apostle Day on 25 July. The festivities and ceremonies around the city last throughout the last two weeks of July, and involve festivals in honour of St James, Jornadas de Folklore Gallego (Galician Folklore Days) and Festival de Bandas Populares (Popular Music Bands Festival). Literary Notes Galicia has a strong literary tradition, with the writers Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, Rosalía Castro (who wrote in Galician and Castilian) and Camilo José Cela (Nobel Prize-winner for Literature, 1989) being the most famous flowers of Galician letters. Its modern literary scene is small but intensely active. Santiago de Compostela has attracted attention outside the confines of regional literature. Describing the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela as the birth of European consciousness, Goëthe said that 'Europe is the pilgrim son of Santiago'. Less portentously, Gabriel García Márquez said, 'Santiago de Compostela is a lively city, overrun by a mass of joyous and noisy students, who leave it not the slightest deference to age'. The veteran Spanish Surrealist director Luis Buñuel made his characteristically acid comment on the Santiago tradition with his The Milky Way (1969), in which two tramps travel the old Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela on a mission from Satan to beget the Antichrist from a prostitute. |