Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-06
ANCIENT CAPITAL.
Valladolid for Centuries One Of
the Grandest of Cities.
The Granary of Spain and a City Rich
in History
Letter from. Correspondent, VIM. E
Curtis, Now Touring the World.


the grandest and gayest cities, is now
slowly awakening from slumber of
ooo years, writes W. E. Curtis in the
Washington Star. Few cities in Spain
nave better location for trade and
manufactures. There is abundant wa
ter power. navigation by fiat boats
down the Duero river to the Atlantic,
railway communication with France,
southern Spain and Portugal, and
around it the Terra de Campos, a vast
plain, which is called the granary of
Spain, because, even under the present
primitive mode Of cultivation, it pro-
duces about seven and a half bushels
of wheat. If the natives had modern
implements and machinery and worked
their land as it is worked in Minnesota
and the Dakotas this yield might be
doubled, but what can be expected
where farmers pillow with a crooked
stick, thrash their grain on stone floors
by driving oxen over it, and winnow it
by throwing shovelfuls into the air so
that the wind may blow out the chaff.
The land is owned in large estates
and leased in small sections to peasants
who work it on shares under the super
vision ola manager. The owners live
in Paris or Madrid, and sometimes
come here for few days or few
weeks. They have pretentious palaces
in Valladold filled with gilt furniture,
mirrors, costly hangings and valuable
pictures by the old masters, but the
venerable city has no attractions for
them, and the money dug from the
ground by their faithful tenants is ex-
pended in luxuries and dissipation else
where. That is the curse Of Spain. If
the proceeds of the labor of the hard
working poems could be expended in
the improvements Of the estates, in the
purchase of labor saving machinery, in
building decent houses for them to live
in, and in the establishment of facto-
ries to utilize the magnificent water
power, Valladolid might again become
a prosperous and busy city. But the
rich Spaniards spend their incomes
abroad and will not risk their money in
local enterprises. Yet even now. I'M
der all the disadvantages it suffers,
Valladolid is slowly picking up. Sew
eral new companies have been organ
lied of recent years by foreigners, two
new banks have been started with large
capital, three of the principal streets
have been repaved, and as the Span
iards put it, 1.-THE sun is rising again up
on this ancient town." The climate is
wholesome, the air is pure and genial
the sky is cioudless, the water is liquid
crystal and the elevation of the city,
2,1OO feet above the sea, makes it one Of
the healthiest in Spain, the death rate
being only 1872 per 1000.
There is very little for visitors here
excepting students of history and arch
itects. For those two classes of travel
ers Valladolid is a mine of treasures
Medieval churches and palaces in
which the city abounds are we'll pre-
served and furnish as fine examples of
that period as can be found anywhere.
There is an unfinished cathedral, which
was begun in the eleventh century, but
was never completed, and in 1853 the
court architect estimated that $4,000
600 would be necessary for that pur-
pose. With the increased cost of labor
and materials in these days four times
that sum would be necessary to carry
out the plans. Work was stopped in
1867 when the court moved to Toledo,
tiiiu IL IDS DccH pl tCtiCdliy uilloAClieu
since that time One of the towers,
270 feet high, collapsed and fell in 1S41
and has never been restored. Several
other portions of the cdifice have suf-
fercd from old age, and portions are
considered unsafe. The designs were
of the Doric school; the ground plan
forms a cross All feet long and 204
feet wide, with a cloister 176 feet
square.
The University of Valladolid was once
famous and was founded by Ferdinand
the Saint in the twelfth century. It
attained its creates Importance in the
sixteenth century, when there We're 5000
and 1000 students upon its rolls. Nova
days they number about 1000. The
building is a splendid specimen of what
is called the Baroque style. with the
most elaborate and eXtravagant cary
ings and stucco work, showing how
much interest must have been taken in
the institution 400 years ago.
The, royal palace is a noble building,
with similar decorations, and contains
two galleries of paintings and sculpture
without great Importance. The Plaza
Mayor. q little square in the center of
the Guy, mas Ecen Ine scene OF many
remarkable events. and historians de-
clare that the fetes and jousts which
took place there in the time of Charles
V have been unequaled since. Cervan-
ties, who lived from 1903 till 1906 in q
little house behind the Hotel Norte, was
commanded to write a description of the
fetes which celebrated the christening
of the son of Philip III, and his account
still remains.
Ferdinand and Isabella were married
October 10. 1859, in what is now the
city hail. fronting upon this plaza, and
made Nalladolid their capital, residing
here after the successful siege of the
Alhambra and the expulsion of the
Moors. Isabella died in a splendid old
castle which stands beside the railroad
track at Medino del Campo. 1t is roof
less now, but its monstrous walls are
almost intact. Her birthplace was the
little village of MadriGal, a few miles
farther on. There is scarcely a town in
this part of the country that is not in
SOME way identified with her career.
and at one time or another she visited
nearly every one of the old castles
whose ruins rise from the hill tops in |
every direction.
Crazy Jane, her daughter. was pro-