The Mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, and Sando’s CEO, Luis Sánchez Manzano, unveiled the bust in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood
The Mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, and Sando’s CEO, Luis Sánchez Manzano, unveiled a bust of the Marquis de la Vega-Inclán in the small square that bears his name in the Santa Cruz neighbourhood. Sando has donated this sculpture to the city of Seville to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the company’s foundation. It is a work by the prestigious sculptor Jaime Gil-Arévalo.
During the presentation of the monument, José Luis Sanz emphasised the work that this person did for the city: “In the act of justice, homage is paid to one of the people who, without being from Seville, did the most for our city in the 20th century, the Marquis of Vega-Inclán. He was a person who was almost everything in life: a senator, military man, writer, intellectual, traveller and, above all, a reformer of the Seville of his time. Considered to be the inventor of tourism in Spain and the initiator of the Parador network, his imprint on Seville was immense and fundamental in preserving and enriching our city”.
In this sense, the Mayor pointed out the opportunity to place this sculpture in the neighbourhood of Barrio de Santa Cruz, as he reformed it and gave it the structure that we know today: “He opened the neighbourhood to the city with the opening of the Muralla (rampart), created the Murillo Gardens, Paseo de Catalina de Ribera, the Casa de América in the Callejón del Agua and the Hospederías del Barrio de Santa Cruz. These are just a few examples of his immense life’s work”.
Luis Sánchez Manzano highlighted Sando’s commitment to Seville over the last 50 years: “As a thank you to this great city, to which I am proud to be a resident, we at Sando have added a new sculpture in the Marquis de la Vega-Inclán Square, contributing to the cultural heritage of this great city”.
The sculpture is the work of one of Seville’s leading contemporary sculptors, Jaime Gil Arévalo, professor at the University of Seville and academician on Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
The figure of the Marquis of Vega-Inclán
Benigno de la Vega-Inclán y Flaquer (1858-1942) was “a Sevillian from Valladolid” who revolutionised Spain at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th. He made a decisive contribution to the transformation of Seville, both in social terms, as the driving force behind the Casas Baratas (Affordable Housing) and in terms of tourism and urban development, and it is possible to tour Seville through his work.
De la Vega-Inclán contributed to the development of one of the city’s most important landmarks, bringing the statue of El Cid to Seville (commissioned by his friend Archer Huntington and the work of his wife, Anne Hyatt). He was the promoter of Alfonso XIII Hotel, a hotel that continues to be the flagship of luxury tourism in Seville and Spain. He carried out archaeological work in the El Salvador Church. He was Warden of the Royal Alcazar of Seville), doing decisive work for this monument, with restoration and conservation interventions in the royal orchards and palace gardens in the Patio del Yeso, building the Puerta de Marchena.
