merchantprince

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

The Palace Of A Merchant Prince

One of the most prominent landmarks in the centre of Cartagena is the Pedreño House, which stands at the northern end of the Puertas de Murcia near the start of the popular Calle Carmen pedestrianised shopping street.

This building has a façade that is covered with stone heads and decorative elements. It was originally the home of a wealthy business family but today it is used rather more prosaically as a bank.

The inside is not normally open to the public but sometimes exhibitions are arranged and you can use these as an excuse to sneak a look at the magnificent ballroom. This is richly decorated in an over-the-top style, with plenty of cherubs, musical instruments and complicated swirls and flourishes in gilt.

Outside there is plenty to enjoy with the stone heads gazing serenely down at passers by. The statue in the area in front of the building, of a boy with a fish, is in memory of the skinny barefoot street urchins who in the past were as much a part of Cartagena life as the fat merchant princes.

Could one of the gargoyles be that fabled beast – a griffin? This is a composite figure, usually with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion, although there are many interpretations. If this is a griffin, then the oval that it is clutching may be an egg. The griffin was a favourite decoration in ancient Mediterranean cultures and it probably appeared in the Middle East in the second century B.C, having arrived from further east. The griffin was sacred and was frequently found in tombs and on important buildings.

One prominent Pedreño in Cartagena’s history was Andrés Pedreño y Torrabla, who was a businessmen and politician in the 19^th century. He owned, amongst other things, foundries in Alumbres and in Santa Lucia. He was also a significant investor in many other projects, including the narrow gauge railway, or Tranvia, that was built to link the mining town of La Union with the port of Cartagena. This still exists today, and has been extended to the beaches of the Mar Menor. The railway is known as FEVE and the station is next to the Plaza A. Bastarreche, opposite the tourism office. Trains run about every 20 minutes or so and a ticket costs a few Euros. Andrés was an active politician and served as consul for Italy and Austria. He received many decorations.

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