Murcia information
From la Merced to the Plaza de San Juan
The Calle de la Merced leads into the Plaza de Santo Domingo,
bringing a constant toping and froing of students.
At the end is the University, in a convent built by the Brothers
of Mercy in 1628- it´s worthwhile popping into the cloister
with its two levels of slender arches. Next door is the church
of La Merced, enhanced in 1713 with a complex baroque doorway
by Jose Balaguer. The rococo church has side chapels and two interesting
altarpieces: the main one and another dedicated to the “Virgen
de los Remedios”, also known as the “Wry- necked Virgin”,
a stone carving from the 16th century. A legend states that it
was found floating on the waters of the River Segura. The south
side of the church faces the Plaza del Beato Imbernón,
lined with bars and taverns: being so near the university means
that a whole area of leisure facilities has grown up here where,
as soon as twilight falls, thousands of young people collect to
stroll, chat and make friends over a glass of local wine and a
tapa, while traffic comes to a standstill in this, the old Jewish
quarter. Murcia is a hospitable city: witness the development
of the Jewish community from Moorish times, with its later protection
by the Castillian monarchs. Alfonso X set up a Jewish quarter
within the city walls, covering the following streets: Santa Quiteria,
Selgas, Sardoy, Mesegueres, Horno, Paco, Victoria, Mariano Vergara,
Luisa Aledo, Trinidad, Amores, Sémola, Torreta, Santa Rosalia,
Rosario, Lomas and Cigarral. The lay out of these streets has
not changed much at all; here they are narrower and more winding,
the alleways show that nearby, buried underground, lies a section
of Moorish wall, and at every step of our stroll we come upon
peaceful corners, wam little squares bathed in the golden light
of sunset. By the Saavedra Fajardo market the bells of San Lorenzo
ring out, one of the seven parish churches built within the city
walls; Ventura Rodríquez designed the present church in
1810.
In the Plaza Balsas we find the Pérez Calvillo mansion
(18th century) and further on in Calle Obispo Frutos, the Municipal
Art Gallery with its two carved doorways dating from the 17th
century and commemorating the silk trade. Within the museum we
find paintings by Ribera, Rosales, Orrente, Romero de Torres and
Picasso, and by local artists from the renaissance to the latest
trends in painting and sculpture.
The Jewish quarter was bounded to the south by the church of Santa
Eulalia, or Santa Olalla as it was originally known as, being
a popular place of devotion for the Catalans who came to Murcia
with Jaime I. A statue to the wood- carver Salzillo looks out
over the square where fairs are held to celebrate San Blas´s
day and Candlemas; like those of the San Antón district,
they are the last remains of the local fairs, present in the memory
of the quarter where balconies are decorated and folk hang round
their necks a clay replica of that great curer of sore throats,
the ever- popular bishop San Blas. On the Saint´s day they
wear plumes of red, green and yellow feathers and there is a procession
with its band, typical sweetmeats, the smell of smoking fritters,
the lucky dip, roundabouts, nuts, dried fruit and the parish priest
craving protection for the children’s throats with the aid
of two candles held aloft like windmill sails. The Plaza de Santa
Eulalia was the site of coaching inns, and the well- earned fame
of its bakeries, taverns and inns dates back from those days.
Behind the church in the Paseo de Garay both the football stadium
and the bull- ring bear the name of a nearby stadium is shortly
to be moved outside the city but the bullring has just been refurbished;
designed by Justo Millán and opened in 1877, it is considered
to be of the largest category, as it is 53 metres in diameter,
18 metres high and has room for 18,000 spectators. Opposite the
main gate is Calle San José, leading to the square of the
same name, where King Jaime I made camp with his army before reconquering
the city from the Moors. There lived the Count of Floridablanca,
Carlos III ´s prime minister, whose palace and gardens gave
onto the square; the work of Ramón Berenguer, the building
has been made over for use as a hotel, and is the prototype of
the 18th century Murcian neoclassical mansion. The parish church
of San Juan dates back to the times of the Reconquest, but the
present building was erected at the end of the 18th century; inside
there are carved figures by Roque López, Sánchez
Tapia, porcel and Nicolás de Bussy.
Around the square there are restaurants offering international
cuisine and typical bars, so the food available is very varied.
One is tempted to sit in the open, tasting some of the traditional
tapas and just letting time drift by in this peaceful, sunlit
square, which can be reached through the archway leading into
Calle Ceballos, formerly called Caramajul because it was there
that the great water wheel stood which was used to supply water
for the Moorish palace.
Crossing an alleyway we come to the Convalecencia, a building
inspired by the renaissance opened in 1915 and at present home
of the University administrative offices. It stands on the site
of the hospital set up by Ribera the Chantry priest in the 18th
century to provide help and shelter for sick and convalescent
priests. Its windows overlook the river and the tall eucalyptus
trees, vestiges of the Ruiz Hidalgo Park, no longer in existence,
which was a leafy Garden of Eden with carriage drives and avenues.
It used to be the ideal setting for the Battle of Flowers and
for livestock shows. Ricardo Codorníu, writer of a guidebook
to the park, catalogued 144 species of plants there. On summer
nights roses shimmer under the eucalyptus and the garden is cloaked
in the incense- like aroma of the sweet- scented shrubs.