Focus on Tertulia Monument (Literary Circle in Modern Coffee) and discuss the History.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Pontevedra was the scene of countless cultural events, such as those held at the Muruais house (attended by Valle-Inclán), at the Carabela and Savoy cafés and at Concepción Arenal house.
In the first decades of the 20th century, Pontevedra was a social and cultural hub and the epicentre of Galician intellectuals who met in lively political, literary and cultural meetings in the city. The meeting place par excellence was the Café Moderno, located on the ground floor of the most important art nouveau building in St. Joseph's Square.These meetings and debates in the city focused, among other things, on the cultural and political contents of the magazine Nós or on Galician and local politics. It was on a marble table in the now defunct Café Méndez Núñez, located in the Plaza de la Peregrina, that Vicente Risco and Castelao conceived the magazine Nós, which would be published for a time at the Poza printing house in Michelena street.
The meetings were lively and time was set aside for them. The many civil servants who attended left the office early and the poets or writers did not have a demanding schedule. Everyone was interested in commenting on current literary events or in small political reflections.
The meetings (tertulias) of the Café Moderno, which took place mainly in the 1920s and 1930s, were originally literary gatherings that became political. After February 1936, these meetings were always multitudinous because Castelao brought direct information from the Congress, and it was in the context of this debate that the Galician Statute of Autonomy movement developed.In addition to its function as a meeting point for the lives of citizens, as a space for the exchange of opinions on narrative, poetry or essays, these meetings in Pontevedra were real centres of power because they directly influenced political life.
Castelao Galician Statute of Autonomy Pontevedra Congress Plaza de la Peregrina Valle-Inclán Galician Vicente Risco Café Moderno