Close on 500 cultural projects scheduled so far for year of 4th centenary of death of Miguel de Cervantes

The activities planned for the commemoration will last until 23 April 2017, coinciding with the very day on which the writer died, although the duration of the support programme backed by tax breaks for projects under the centenary programme will culminate on 30 June 2017.

Projects included in the official programme

The official programme of activities includes a total of 491 projects to date (which, taking into account tours, programmes with multiple activities, etc., means several thousand activities spread across the globe).

Divided into plans and disciplines, these numbers are distributed in the following manner (without taking into account a plethora of activities which, outside of this scope, have been scheduled and programmed by Spanish institutions and organisations and those of other countries):

1. Plan of cultural activities: 301

• Exhibitions and audiovisual arts: 80
• Theatre and dance: 60
• Music: 46
• Cinema and audiovisuals: 23
• Literature: 6
• Dissemination and promotion of reading: 86
  

2. Research plan: 123

• Online resources: 21
• Publications and studies: 31
• Academic activities: 71
  

3. National and international promotion plan: 46

4. Cultural tourism development plan: 18

5. Heritage and legacy plan: 3

Out of these 491 projects, 315 have an international presence through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, developed by the cultural sections of the Spanish embassies, cultural centres of the Spanish International Cooperation Development Agency (Spanish acronym: AECID) and the Cervantes Institute centres, as well as by Spanish Cultural Action (Spanish acronym: AC/E), thanks to which this centenary is being celebrated on all five continents.

Broken down by tiers of government, it can be seen that the number of projects promoted by:

1. Central Government amounts to date to a total of 214.

2. Regional governments amounts to date to a total of 54.

a. Andalusia: 7
b. Aragon: 2
c. Castile‐La Mancha: 11
d. Castile and León: 6
e. Madrid: 27
f. Navarre: 1

3. Local government amounts to date to a total of 72 projects, with noteworthy contributions from the City Council of Alcalá de Henares, with 30 projects, and the City Council of Madrid, with 17 projects.

4. Universities have promoted 44 activities, mainly of an academic or dissemination basis.

5. As well as these institutions, there are more than 100 projects which have been promoted by foundations, both public and private, associations, companies and private individuals.

Figures on public attendance

Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y DeporteBased on the figures on public attendance that public institutions present on the Commemoration Committee have passed onto the State Secretariat of Culture, more than 2 million people have already attended events related to this fourth centenary.

Based on these advance figures, it can be deduced that the commemoration of the 4th centenary has already been an extraordinary institutional and public phenomenon, with the participation of a wide range of institutions and bodies in the extensive cultural programme carried out at both a national and international level, with the aim of bringing the life and works of Cervantes closer to people in both Spain and around the world.
Among the projects and activities that have generated the greatest public interest in 2016, the following are particularly noteworthy:

The exhibition organised by the National Library of Spain and Spanish Cultural Action, entitled 'Miguel de Cervantes: from life to myth' (1616‐2016) visited by 78,012 people

The Cervantes Institute exhibition entitled 'Quixotes around the world', with 20,067 visitors in Madrid alone, which can then be multiplied following its route around the globe - for example, it received 36,036 visitors in Puerto Rico, on the occasion of the 7th International Congress of the Spanish Language

The activities organised by the Casa Cervantes Museum in Valladolid, with 23,371 participants

The exhibition 'Miguel de Cervantes and the will to live', organised by Spanish Cultural Action and the Cervantes Institute, which received 17,696 visits

The Giant Interactive Map of Cervantes' Andalusia, which 7,600 people took part in

The exhibition entitled 'Miguel de Cervantes' organised by the State archives, which received 2,957 visitors

The ballet 'Don Quixote', with 22,180 spectators at the Zarzuela Theatre, interpreted by the National Dance Company

The co-production by the National Classical Theatre Company and Ron Lalá, entitled 'Cervantina', which received more than 36,671 spectators.

More than 25,700 documents on Cervantes available on the webpage of the National Library of Spain

The centenary has also given an extraordinarily significant boost to research work on Cervantes, his works and his legacy, all implemented with criteria of strict scientific rigour and significant progress has been made in the spread of the legacy of Cervantes, both over the Internet and through social networks, and through the involvement of such media as the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation (Spanish acronym: RTVE).

One of the most noteworthy projects has been the cataloguing and digitalisation of the works of Cervantes at the National Library of Spain, which owns the largest collection on Cervantes in the world. This task, which had not been systematically undertaken since 1906, meant cataloguing 25,700 items, including monographs, manuscripts, maps, prints, drawings, photographs, bookplates, sheet music, sound recordings, videos and magazines on Cervantes. This catalogue, together with digitalised works, is accessible on the webpage of the National Library.

The Cervantes Routes

Another ambitious promotional project, organised by the State Secretariat for Culture, together with the Google Cultural Institute, and with the collaboration of AC/E, the National Library of Spain, the State archives, the City Council of Alcalá de Henares, and other institutions, is the Routes of Cervantes.

This portal, accessible throughout the world, includes a virtual visit to the main virtual exhibitions, the houses he lived in, and the content on Cervantes present in the State archives, which have been fully digitalised.