Antonio Gala becomes eternal next to the Gran TeatroPablo Cabrera
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This Thursday, Córdoba discovered the sculpture of Antonio Gala. The announced bust, which in reality, is a large statue that represents the poet in half length, cane in hand and dressed in a jacket and scarf, was shown this afternoon to the public in an endearing event that has permeated the center of the city of musical notes, led by the Eduardo Lucena Royal Philharmonic Center and poetry.
The statue, the work of Caesar Orrico, Queen Sofía Prize for Sculpture and Painting, as well as being a student with a scholarship from the Antonio Gala Foundation 15 years ago, has made Córdoba rediscover one of its leading writers, who from now on will closely monitor the designs of the Grand Theater and everything what happens in the city, from its epicenter. Around the sculpture, one reads one of the greatest declarations of love made to Córdoba, that of Antonio Gala, who despite being born in Brazatortas, assured without a doubt that “Being from Córdoba is one of the most important things you can be in this world.”
Authorities and sculptor pose next to the bust after unveiling it to the public.
The sculptor César Orrico, present at the event with his wife, also an artist, and his children, did not need too many photographs to faithfully reproduce the writing with whom he shared so many hours and which he has faithfully represented in the years in which he wrote it. knew because, as he confessed to Francisco Moreno, kept in memory all the talks, fights and laughter that the writer dedicated to him.
Saint Anthony’s Day, June 13, will from now on be Antonio Gala’s Day. This is what Córdoba and the writer’s foundation wanted, whose president, Francisco Moreno, has effusively thanked the gesture of tribute and announced that Every year it will organize a cultural activity in memory of Gala at this place.
Joaquín Pérez Azaústre, during his speech at the event.
The inauguration of the sculpture has served to make the author’s poetry resonate with some of the voices that have most admired the Cordoba author, from the writer Joaquín Pérez Azaustre (“He stretched out his hand and touched you…”), who described him as “the Cordovan wandering around the world”, to Tania Padilla, writer and tutor at the Antonio Gala Foundation (“I needed you to love me so much, that As soon as I arrived I declared my love for you”), which he took the opportunity to thank her for being what she is today, a writer; Ben ClarkNational Critics Award and scholarship recipient of the foundation (“While life lasts you will be alive”), who thanked Córdoba for establishing a place of physical presence where his followers can come to pay tribute to him, or the journalist Alfredo Asensio, master of ceremonies, who acted “spontaneously” reciting another of his poems.
Audience attending the inauguration of the sculpture by Antonio Gala.
Not only were the voices of poets heard reciting poems by Antonio Gala but Gala himself was heard, whose voice was present before the public in one of his last recordings, where he confesses convinced: “I cannot be from anywhere else. Continue living in Córdoba, walking around Córdoba… “I have not written, I have not lived for anything else, I love you and I will love you, be very happy.”
The act of recognition of the city, supported by all municipal groups, as the mayor, José María Bellido, stressed, is a way, according to the first mayor, of “returning part of what the writer gave to this city,” among them , the foundation that bears his name, “his most precious legacy.
