Sitges Tales 2: A Wonderful, Windy Winters Day
Have you ever wandered aimlessly along the paseo in Sitges?
Have you ever wandered aimlessly along the paseo in Sitges?
Today (January 16th) time is of no essence and the Manteros (with their counterfeit products) are out in full force trying desperately to coax euros out of the pockets of the many people taking in the relentless sun as they stroll.
Couples of all kinds, kids, families, dog-walkers and elders with whiskers share the windy promenade, the temperature - a brisk 12°C. All living life, enjoying the experience of the free time they possess.
I choose this activity because I have the luxury of sight, sound and smell to relish the fresh air, sand and sea before I attend a showing at El Prado of "Steve Jobs” (the film starring Michael Fassbender) with SQ columnist, Juan Carlos and SQ assistant editor, Gloria Gannaway.
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Visit www.cineclubsitges.com
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It is a successful initiative of the CineClub Sitges which brings a wide variety of international films offered in it's original version with subtitles in castellano. Every week a new film graces one of our screens, the other being at the El Retiro. Both are venues for the SITGES – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalunya.
Going off on a tangent for a moment, I admit the film was brilliantly written and acted yet can't believe a real, highly functional human being with a team of albeit fractured friendships, can be 98% flawed and 2% - sympathetic and remorseful… For me, that doesn't compute. Of course my companions for the evening, contemplated my comments and added theirs to the discussion about the film as we drank our "despues pelicular” (after film) beverages.
We moved on in topics of conversation and verbally sauntered to the small Catholic chapel (Església de les Religioses de la Immaculada Concepció), the Patronat D’Asc building on Carrer De Parellades, designed by Gaietà Buïgas i Monravà and built back in 1900.
Over many years after use as a place of prayer, the chapel was used as a civic centre - a “bingo” hall and a place where films were also screened in its garden. Following a series of lawsuits and appeals debating ownership (not to mention mismanagement), the building remains locked, and abandoned behind its legally protected façade.
If ever the legalities are settled, development of the site might have to include façadism (or façadomy); which, in short refers to the architectural and construction practice where an existing façade of a building is incorporated into the design of a new structure or building. The often controversial practice gained strength in the 1980s when technological advances in construction made it easier and more viable.
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Who knows what 2016 will bring. New happenings, new resolutions and many new conversations to be had and include in the continuing Sitges Tales...
Note:
Buïgas i Monravà also designed the Casa Bonaventura Blay, which became the Hotel El Xalet in 1983, the Casa Severiano Virella Cassanyes (The Medium Park Hotel- 1895), Mercat Vell de Sitges (the old market, 1889) and today it is the museum, Casa Bacardi.
[See the SQ issue 3 - Made in Sitges for history on Facundo Bacardí Massó and his famous rum]
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| Case Bacardí Mercat Vell de Sitges (the old market) |
