Valle-Inclán statue

At the beginning of the 21st century, Pontevedra City Council decided to install a monument to the writer Ramón María del Valle-Inclán in the city because of his great relationship with Pontevedra and to compensate for the removal, in 1952, of a bust of this universal writer from the gardens of the Palm Trees Park, which was donated to the municipality of A Pobra do Caramiñal.{{Cite web|date=26 June 2003|title=Valle-Inclán presidirá desde esta noche la renovada plaza de Méndez Núñez|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2003/06/26/valle-inclan-presidira-noche-renovada-plaza-mendez-nunez/0003_1786220.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}}

It was decided to install it in the Plaza Méndez Núñez, opposite the house of the Muruais (the brothers Jesús and Andrés), in whose important library it was trained and entered the world of literature.{{Cite web|date=20 November 2011|title=Una ventana abierta a la palabra|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2011/11/20/ventana-abierta-palabra/0003_201111P20C2992.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}} The sculpture cost 16,000 euros.

Ramón María del Valle-Inclán was born in Vilanova de Arousa in the province of Pontevedra. After studying there with the help of his father, the whole family moved to the capital of the province, Pontevedra, where his father had succeeded in being appointed secretary of the Gobierno Civil, the Government Delegation in the Province of Pontevedra. He began his secondary studies at the Provincial High School of Pontevedra in 1877. During this time, Jesús Muruáis, a French and Latin teacher and friend of his father's, influenced him in literary terms.{{Cite book|last=Manuel Alberca Serrano|title=Valle-Inclán. La fiebre del estilo|date=2002|publisher=Espasa-Calpe|page=46}} He read Cervantes, Quevedo and the Viscount of Chateaubriand, as well as military works and works on the history of Galicia. On 29 April 1885, he completed his secondary education at the age of nineteen.

He studied law at the University of Santiago de Compostela, which he did not complete.{{Cite web|date=25 November 2020|title=La primera vez que en La Voz se habló de Valle Inclán: «¡Loado sea Dios, nos llega un libro bueno!»|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/cultura/2020/11/24/primera-vez-voz-hablo-valle-inclan-loado-dios-llega-libro-bueno/00031606237699422471288.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}} After another stay in Pontevedra in 1890 he went to Madrid. He returned to Pontevedra in 1892 and then went to Mexico. He returned to Pontevedra in 1893 to relieve his nostalgia. He befriended Jesus Muruáis, in whose library he could read the most important European writers of the time. He often went to the Café Moderno and exhibited his particular dialectic that would later make him famous. In 1895 he published his first book of stories in the city: Femeninas.{{Cite web|date=11 May 2016|title=Ramón del Valle-Inclán, una vida de novela|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/lavozdelaescuela/2016/05/11/ramon-valle-inclan-vida-novela/00031462534246732230638.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}}

It was at this time that Valle-Inclán adopted the attire of young French writers: a cape, a hat and, above all, a long beard. He lived in Pontevedra in a house in the Plaza de las Cinco Calles (Praza das Cinco Rúas){{Cite web|date=8 December 2019|title=La Ruta de Valle-Inclán en Galicia|url=https://viajes.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/2019/12/06/ruta-valle-inclan-galicia/00031575649339515697331.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}} until 1896, when, at the age of 29, he moved to Madrid.Nadal, Paco, 2012, Rias Baixas. Escapadas, Madrid, El País Aguilar, p. 36{{Cite news|date=11 January 2016|title=Cita con Fidel, el 'pulpeiro' en Pontevedra|url=https://elpais.com/elviajero/2016/01/07/actualidad/1452178869_796087.html|website=El País|language=es}}

The figure of the writer is installed on one side of the square, in an attitude of exit from the House of the Muruáis, where he used to go to their library, one of the best in Pontevedra, and attend cultural events.{{Cite web|date=26 January 2020|title=Un país mágico: Pontevedra|url=http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/un-pais-magico/pais-magico-pontevedra/5493286/|website=RTVE|language=es}}

The sculpture is in bronze and depicts the writer as a life-size dandy, wearing a hat, double-breasted jacket and carrying a cane. He wears a moustache, glasses and his characteristic long beard.{{Cite web|date=7 November 2002|title=Una estatua de Valle Inclán presidirá la nueva plaza de Méndez Núñez|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2002/11/07/estatua-valle-inclan-presidira-nueva-plaza-mendez-nunez/0003_1311444.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}} It weighs half a tonne and measures 1.75 metres.{{Cite web|url= https://www.diariodepontevedra.es/articulo/pontevedra/mas-chapa-menos-pintura/201809141147561000196.html|website=Diario de Pontevedra|title= El PSOE denuncia el mal estado de algunos monumentos y esculturas de Pontevedra |language=es|date=14 September 2018}}

The sculpture is based on the classic image of the writer and more precisely on a photograph of him walking along the Paseo de Recoletos in Madrid.{{Cite web|date=1 March 2003|title=Obras artísticas completarán la reforma de los espacios urbanos|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/2003/03/01/obras-artisticas-completaran-reforma-espacios-urbanos/0003_1524334.htm|website=La Voz de Galicia|language=es}}

File:Fotos Galicia II 027.jpg|The statue by night

File:Pontevedra, 12.jpg|Valle-Inclán in the Méndez Núñez Square

File:La mirada de Valle Inclán (12168831883).jpg|Face of the statue

File:Pontevedra-A los pies de Valle (7108728487).jpg|The statue on the square

File:Pontevedra Capital Plaza Méndez Núñez Arco y estatua Valle-Inclán.jpg|Valle-Inclán in front of the Muruais' house

File:Plaza Mendez Nuñez, Pontevedra.JPG|The statue in front of the Muruais' house

File:Pontevedra, Valle Inclán 01-02.jpg|Valle-Inclán's house in the Plaza de las Cinco Calles

• Ramón María del Valle-Inclán
• Plaza de Méndez Núñez
• Valle-Inclán High School
• Teucer statue
• Tertulia Monument (Literary Circle in Modern Coffee)
• The Fiel contraste

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Aganzo|first=Carlos|title=Pontevedra. Ciudades con encanto|publisher=El País-Aguilar|year=2010|isbn=978-8403509344|location=Madrid|page=66;128-129|language=es}}
• {{Cite book|last=Alberca Serrano|first=Manuel|title=Valle-Inclán. La fiebre del estilo|publisher=Espasa-Calpe|year=2002|isbn=978-8467003154|location=Madrid|page=46|language=es}}
• {{Cite book|last=Nadal|first=Paco|title=Rias Baixas. Escapadas|publisher=El País-Aguilar|year=2012|isbn=978-8403501089|location=Madrid|pages=35–36|language=es}}
• {{Cite book|last=Riveiro Tobío|first=Elvira|title=Descubrir Pontevedra|publisher=Edicións do Cumio|year=2008|isbn=9788482890852|location=Pontevedra|page=41|language=es}}

{{commons category|Sculpture of Valle-Inclán, Pontevedra}}

• [https://www.objetivoviajar.com/que-ver-en-terras-de-pontevedra/estatua-de-valle-inclan-pontevedra]
• [https://viajaconfaloalp.wordpress.com/2018/05/08/vii-pontevedra-capital-historica-y-cultural-de-la-provincia-del-mismo-nombre/]

{{Pontevedra landmarks}}

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Category:Pontevedra

Category:Spanish sculpture

Category:Bronze sculptures

Category:Sculptures in Spain

Category:21st-century sculptures

Category:Sculptures of men in Spain

Category:Tourist attractions in Galicia (Spain)

Category:Outdoor sculptures in Pontevedra

Category:Monuments and memorials in Pontevedra

Category:Monuments and memorials in Galicia (Spain)