Madrid: In search of the remains of Calderón de la Barca
Investigation: The remains of Calderón de la Barca are being searched using georadar
The team that searches for the mortal remains of
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
has a chest that contains the key that would open the playwright's funeral chest, which according to the researchers' hypothesis is buried in the parish of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores in the capital .
In a statement, the CEU San Pablo, responsible for the investigation, explains that the ark with the key is the property of the Countess of Asalto, Teresa Morenés y Urquijo, who has lent it to the scientific team for their investigation.
"It is
an elegant 23-centimeter noble wood casket
crowned with the cross of the Order of Santiago -to which Calderón belonged-, and with some practically illegible side inscriptions that allude to the first transfer of the remains," they explain.
According to the CEU San Pablo professor and director of the investigation, Pablo Sánchez Garrido, this chest was given to the Calderón de la Barca family during some of the
solemn acts of exhumation
and transfer of the remains, "probably for the first of the six "there were, in 1841.
The casket is made with "the same materials" as the funeral urn that is being sought, wood and bronze, and has inscriptions on one side that will be deciphered using ultraviolet light.
"In several of the exhumations of Calderón's remains, a Count of Asalto was present, as an official representative of the descendants of the famous writer. The existence of this chest with the key from the 19th century was known to the director of the project. However,
the The chest and the key had been stolen from the family during the Civil War,
"explains CEU San Pablo.
And they add: "Likewise, his claim by the family in 1939 to the Historical Heritage Defense Service was recorded. But until now his photograph had never been released, nor was there any graphic documentation of the urn or the key."
Furthermore, according to the CEU San Pablo, "a
new portrait
of Calderón de la Barca
has appeared
", which is "in the process of identification and dating."
The portrait is also owned by the descendants of Calderón de la Barca, it was also stolen during the Civil War and returned to its owners in 1939.
On December 17, the research team began the exploration with a geo-radar in the parish of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, where "some significant points have been detected that will require the subsequent intervention of the archaeological team for their opening and verification."
However,
the investigation "has been paralyzed both by the storm Filomena and by the covid-19
, which postpones access to certain areas of the church common to a nursing home and the Congregation of San Pedro, owner of the property."
Calderón de la Barca belonged to this congregation while he was alive and was strongly linked to it, to the point of naming it, in his will, as universal heir.
It was by virtue of this condition that the Congregation claimed for itself
the remains of the writer
at the end of the 19th century, and thus they landed, in 1902, in the chapel later converted into the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows.
In the Civil War they disappeared, and that is where the parenthesis of uncertainty that researchers now intend to close with the technology of the
georadar
, (Ground Penetrating Radar -GPR-), a non-invasive technology that allows to detect and locate buried remains opens. using radio frequency signals.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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