San Pedro del Pinatar
The Baron de Benifayó Museum recovers the modernist splendour of the exhibition
During the month of November, the Baron de Benifayó Museum is exhibiting the exhibition “The Bourgeoisie of an Era”, in which it reviews the history of politicians, industrialists, artists, nobles and soldiers who made San Pedro del Pinatar their resting place during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thus, the exhibition shows, through information panels, documents and other objects of the period, some of the most charismatic figures linked to the municipality in this period, such as the three owners of the current museum, the Baron de Benifayó, a charismatic Italian nobleman who ordered the construction of this palace and its twin on the Baron’s Island; the Russian Marquis of Seslavine, whose presence in the municipality gave the building its nickname of “Casa de la Rusa”, and the Countess Villar de Felices, who made it her second residence well into the 20th century.
The exhibition also recalls the Servet family, who built La Quinta de San Sebastián, known as “Casa del Reloj”, an emblem of modernism in the town and the place where the former president of the 1st Republic, Emilio Castelar, whose biography is also included in this exhibition, as well as his time in the municipality, died.
Artists such as the painter Obdulio Miralles, the poet Eduardo Flores, the actress Catalina Bárcenas; politicians and businessmen such as Pedro Pagán Ayuso and Emilio Díez de Revenga; or military men such as Manuel Cassola and Julián González Parrado, are other names recovered in this exhibition.
In addition, the exhibition recovers curious objects from the period, donated by neighbours and descendants of these personalities, such as the billiard balls from the games room of the Casa del Reloj, the Baron’s glasses and foil, the palace room knocker or the family book of the Russian nobleman, among others.
The mayoress of San Pedro del Pinatar, Visitación Martínez, inaugurated this exhibition, which has had the collaboration of the Association Friends of the Museums and which is part of the II Jornadas Modernistas de San Pedro del Pinatar, which will continue today with two lectures on Catalina Bárcena and the Servet family and will conclude on Sunday with the celebration of a special wedding in the museum by the Asociación Cultural Modernistas Cartagena de Levante.