Cadaqués
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Cadaqués is a town in the Alt Empordà comarca, in Girona province, Catalonia, Spain. It is on a bay near the Cap de Creus peninsula, on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean Sea. It is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Barcelona, therefore it is very accessible and not only attracts tourists, but people who want a second house to have on the weekends and summers. In 2002 it had a population of 2,612 people.
Artist Salvador Dalí often visited here in his childhood, and later kept a home in Port Lligat, a small bay next to the village. Other notable artists, including Mei Fren (see his commanding charcoals of the nineteenth century Cadaqués beleaguered by a winter tramontan in the Cadaqués museum. He was the first artist to live in Cadaqués and gave the town many of his works and a marble top table on which he sketched many of its turn of the century fishermen), Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Marcel Duchamp, Antoni Pitxot, Henri-François Rey, Melina Mercouri and Maurice Boitel also spent time here. Cadaqués is mentioned in the story Tramontana by Gabriel García Márquez.
In a time it remained undisturbed, its interesting submarine flora was studied during several years by psychologist Françoise Ardré.
Long a sleepy fishing village, Cadaqués is now a tourism destination. Although it has about 2,000 permanent residents, sometimes up to 10 times that number of visitors stay there.
The famous Salvador Dali visited this city during the summer holiday of 1916, and discovered 'modern painting'. This holiday (that he spent with family of Ramon Pichot) was the start to his wonderful career creating mind-boggling creations.
On Mondays there is a travelling market in Cadaqués, located near the parking lot. This market has a wide variety of products.
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[edit] Relationship with Cuba
In the early 20th century a large number of inhabitants of Cadaqués travelled or emigrated to Cuba (the figure has been estimated as one third of a village of approximately 1200 people). Many of these immigrants were financially successful in Cuba and returned to Cadaqués where they constructed large and ornate houses. These houses can still be seen in the town (for example; the "Casa Blava", "Blue House" in English)). A person returned from Cuba was referred to as an "Americano" among other names.
[edit] Notable Visitors and Residents
- Pablo Picasso stayed during the summer of 1910, was also a guest of the family Pitxot
- Joan Miró
- Marcel Duchamp played chess in the cafe "Meliton" with John Cage amongst others. According to Richard Hamilton, Duchamp regarded the local fishermen as strong chess players.
- Antoni Pitxot
- Martina Hoffmann German Visionary artist
- Henri-François Rey
- Melina Mercouri
- Robert Venosa American Visionary artist
- Maurice Boitel
- Eugeni d'Ors Catalan writer, wrote the "Ben Plantada" (the "good looking girl"?)
- Josep Pla Catalan writer, wrote a number of books set in or about Cadaqués. see below
- Salvador Dalí built a house in Port lligat. Dalis parents also had a house near the Platja LLane (the beach llane)
- Queen Sofía of Spain (as seen in a photo in a restaurant of Cadaqués)
- Victor Rahola
- Niki de Saint-Phalle French artist, was invited or came to visit Marcel Duchamp
- Man Ray also invited by Marcel Duchamp
- Takiguchi Shuzo invited by Duchamp
- Peter Harnden architect, worked with Bombelli
- Lanfranco Bombelli architect and ex-owner of an art gallery in Cadaqués. Also designer of many houses in Cadaqués
- Mary Callery sculptor
- Dieter Roth artist
- Marcel Broodthaers
- Joan Vehi carpenter and photographer. Joan Vehi has taken may photographs of Cadaqués over a number of years
- Barbara Curtis ex-owner of an art gallery in Cadaqués
- Richard Hamilton (artist) English artist, invited by Marcel Duchamp
- John Cage composer, invited by Duchamp with whom he played chess
- Jean Tinguely collaborator with Nick de Saint-Phalle
- Mary Renolds visited in the 1930s
- James Mason actor, filmed near Cadaqués
- Pau Casals cellist, invited by the family Pitxot
- Andre Derain painter, invited by the family Pitxot; painted the village in 1910
- Raoul Pugno
- Jordi Roch i Bosch founded the International Music Festival of Cadaqués
- Jacint Morera Catalan painter
- Maria Martins Brazilian surealist sculptrice
[edit] Language
The village of Cadaqués has its own variant or "speech" of the Catalan language. One of the most notable features is that the definite articles are different from standard Catalan, namely, they are "sa" (feminine) and "es" masculine instead of the normal Catalan definite articles "la" and "el". This feature is interestingly shared with the variant of Catalan spoken in the Balearic Islands. The explanation for this (see "El Vocabulari de Cadaqués", Ernesta Sala i Bruses) is that when the Catalan ruler Jaume I conquered the Balearic Islands in the Middle Ages he re-colonized the islands with people from the Empordà region of Catalonia. Because Cadaqués has remained relatively isolated from the surrounding region (owing to its geography), the mediaeval speech patterns have been preserved.
Another aspect of the speech variant of Cadaqués is the alteration of the first person singular of certain verbs: conjugations that normally end in "o" end in "i" in the Cadaqués variant. For example "a vegades agafi molt per Cala Nans" (informant was an approximately 90 year old fisherman). In standard Catalan this would be "a vegades agafo molt per Cala Nans" (meaning: sometimes I catch a lot at Cala Nans) The speech variant of Catalan has most similarities with the Catalan spoken in Eivissa (Balearic Islands)
The Catalan variant of Cadaqués is referred to as "Cadaquesenc" by the local people and also has many lexical items. Examples:
- rastell: a street (normally with a steep slope) which is formed with pieces of slate stone placed in a vertical position. These types of streets are very characteristic of the streets of Cadaqués.
- grop: a black rain cloud
- llagut: a small boat
- talaia: an elevated castle or look-out which could warn the village of danger or transmit other signals (example: approaching ships) - compare with the "talaiots" of menorca.
- xarxi: a (fishing) net, as opposed to "xarxa" in standard Catalan
- Norai: Is a stone cylindrical building with a large stone on the top that fishermans used to attach their boats.
You can see it and the main photo at bottom.
[edit] Hermitage of Sant Sebastià
The hermitage of Sant Sebastià is a large house located high on the mountain Pení behind Cadaqués. It is a private residence not open to the public. The hermitage is surrounded by cork trees, and is built on a steep slope. There is a walking path which leads from the town of Cadaqués up to the hermitage and this path follows the old "road" (although it is not, and never was suitable for any wheeled vehicle) from the town to the hermitage. There is also a more modern road (not asphalted) which leads to the hermitage. The hermitage can also be regarded as a "talaia" or a look-out to warn the village of potential pirate raids.
[edit] Traditions
Women of the village traditionally fetched water using a glazed earthen ware jug called a "doll". The colour of the glazing was green. Similar earthen ware can be seen still used as decorations. A number of photos exist showing women carrying these "dolls" on their heads (with a cloth to protext their heads).
Owing to Cadaqués proximity to the French border and its isolation by land, the village had a tradition of running contraband. See writings by Josep Pla.
[edit] Cadaqués geology
Cadaqués and the surrounding peninsular known as the Cap de Creus owes its beauty in part to its complex geology. The rocks here were mashed up when the Pyrenees (or Pirineus in Catalan) were formed, and are mostly metamorphic schists which turn a golden colour in the Mediterranean sun.
Add to that the weather: this is one of the wildest spots on the Costa Brava in the winter (Costa Brava means "wild coast"), so the migmatites and schists are battered and eroded by the Tramuntana wind which whips off the mountains and a sea that appears as if it is boiling in the force 8 winds.
The Cadaqués migmatites formed under extreme pressure and temperatures: a partial melt. They are halfway between an igneous and metamorphic rock. The area also contains a lot of schist: a medium grade metaphorphic rock that has been flattened into sheets. White blocks of pegmatite mark where molten rock was squeezed through the older metamorphics at the end of the orogeny or mountain building.
The Cap de Creus is a great place to study Structural Geology. The geological history has been exposed by erosion from wind and sea, and many geologists have mapped the area for this reason.
[edit] Books about Cadaqués
- "Galeria Cadaqués, obres de la col·lecció Bombelli" ISBN 8489771316 (MACBA 2006) in Catalan
- "El Cadaqués de Peter Harnden i Lanfronco Bombelli" ISBN 8488258755, Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Cataluyna
- "El Vocabulari de Cadaqués" ISBN 848726560X, Ernesta sala, Parsifal Edicions, written in Catalan
- "Cadaqués" Josep Pla ISBN 842610701X. This book is available in Catalan and Spanish.
- "Contraband" Josep Pla: about experiences Pla had in running small time contraband from Cadaqués
[edit] External links
- Cadaqués on the Web-newspaper CapCreus online
- Cadaqués on virtourist.com
- Cadaqués resources
- Site dedicated to Maurice Boitel's work
- Interactive map of Cadaqués with street finder
- Info for the Girona region
- Mini Print Internacional de Cadaqués. Print competition open to all printmaking techniques and tendencies, in which artists from all over the world participate.The exhibition includes the miniprints of about 650 artists from some 60 countries of the five continents.
- English guide to Cadaqués
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