Presentation for the Millennium of the Kingdom of Badajoz
On Wednesday, November 13 at 12:00 p.m., we held a presentation for the program of cultural activities to commemorate the Millennium of the Kingdom of Badajoz, a joint event put on by the Autonomous Regional Government of Extremadura and the Municipal Government of Badajoz, in an attempt to revive the city’s historical legacy and increase its cultural offerings through exhibitions, concerts, books and film.
November 19, 2013
The events include the exhibition Arab Epigraphy in Badajoz, which will remain at the Province’s Archeological Museum until January 2014. At this exhibition, one can see the important burial stone with the epitaph of Sabur, the first independent sovereign of Badajoz. Seven funerary epigraph pieces will be exhibited, encompassing the taifa, Almoravid and Almohad periods. Two of them are on loan from the Archeological Museum of Madrid.
Likewise, from April to June 2014, the Extremaduran and Iberian-American Museum of Contemporary Art will be hosting an exhibition of images titled Badajoz Before Yesterday, by local photographic journalist Antonio Pesini, including different landscapes and corners of the city. Similarly, the Library of Extremadura will be hosting the bibliographic exhibition Badajoz: One Thousand Years of Books, at which it will be possible to view the documentary sources of studies of the taifa period in Badajoz history.
As a complementary activity, the books La Alcazaba de Badajoz: nuevas aportaciones arqueológicas (The Alcazaba of Badajoz: New Archeological Contributions) and Badajoz en Mil imágenes (Badajoz in a Thousand Images) will be published, as well as the comic Milenio del Reino de Badajoz (Millennium of the Kingdom of Badajoz) intended for youths.
Various concerts will be held in different heritage spaces, including the Archeological Museum, the Cathedral and the MEIAC. We must also point out the premiere of the musical composition created to commemorate this anniversary by Gómez Deval and Soler Solano, which will be performed by the Municipal Musical Band.
As for film, the Filmoteca of Extremadura and CineClub will be putting on two film series. Films related with the past and present of the Arab world will be screened. Theater will also have a niche in the programming, with students from the San Fernando School putting on the play Badajoz mil años de historia (Badajoz: One Thousand Years of History), intended for schools. At the same time, and with the same educational objective, several drawing and writing competitions will be held, as well as two guided tours through the remains and vestiges of the Aftasi period in Badajoz.
The Mayor of Badajoz, Francisco Javier Fragoso, stated that it is his wish for the holding of the millennium event to consist of three basic types of objectives: cultural, scientific, and those for increasing awareness about the topic. The commemoration of the Millennium of the Kingdom of Badajoz will end with the holding of the Almossassa festival.
