Sáenz de Santamaría chairs the final meeting of the Committee for the 4th Centenary of the Death of Miguel de Cervantes

The plenary meeting was attended, among others, by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, Iñigo Méndez de Vigo; the Secretary of State for Culture; the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha; the Secretary General of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Regional Government of Castile-Leon; the Director General for Cultural Innovation and Literature of the Regional Government of Andalusia; the Director General for Culture and Heritage of the Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the Government of Aragón; the Director of the Office of Culture and Tourism of the Madrid Regional Government, and the Mayor of Alcalá de Henares.

Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría spoke of the major involvement by both institutions and the general public, and the participation of large number of entities and stakeholders in the planning and the commemoration of the Centenary, either as part of the official programme or in addition to it.

Positive balance

The highlights of the summing up the commemoration were as follows:

• An extensive cultural programme at both a national and international level, with the aim of bringing the life and works of Cervantes to all citizens, in Spain and throughout the world.
• A cultural itinerary which covered all artistic disciplines: exhibitions, visual creations (painting, comics, graffiti and photography), literature, theatre, dance, music, cinema and audiovisual arts.
• An extraordinarily significant boost to research work concerning Cervantes, his work and his legacy, under conditions of strict scientific rigour.
• An important step forward in the dissemination of Cervantes' legacy, leveraging 21st Century tools to drive the digitisation of his legacy, an essential instrument for achieving its social communication and universalisation.

519 projects included in the official programme

Ministerio de la PresidenciaThe official programme included a total of 519 projects, although if we take into account tours, travelling exhibits, programmes with multiple activities, etc., there were actually several thousand activities across the globe.

The activities and projects of the commemoration came to an end on April 23, the date on which the author died, although the duration of the support programme taking advantage of fiscal incentives offered by the Spanish government for projects forming part of the Centenary celebrations ended on Tuesday May 30.

The breakdown of the activities by plans and disciplines was as follows, although there were countless other activities put on by institutions and entities of Spain and the rest of the world not included in the official programme:

1. Cultural activities: 319

- Exhibitions and audiovisual arts: 83
- Theatre and dance: 68
- Music: 49
- Cinema and audiovisual: 24
- Literature: 7
- Dissemination and promotion of reading: 88

2. Research: 130

- Online resources: 21
- Publications and studies: 32
- Academic activities: 77

3. National and international promotion: 46

4. Cultural tourism development: 18

5. Heritage and legacy: 3

Of these 519 projects, 325 (64%) had an international presence through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, implemented by the cultural departments of Spanish embassies, the cultural centres of the AECID (Agency for International Development Cooperation), and Cervantes Institute centres, together with AC/E (Spanish Cultural Action Agency), meaning that the Cervantes centenary was celebrated on all five continents.

Broken down by public authorities, the General State Administration Services were the most active with a total of 225 projects. Next came the Regional Governments with 58 projects (Andalusia: 8, Aragon: 2, Castile‐La Mancha: 14, Castile and Leon: 6, Madrid: 27, and Navarre: 1). These were followed by local authorities with a total of 72 projects, among which stand out the Alcalá de Henares City Council with 30 projects and the Madrid City Council with 17, and the universities with 48 activities, most of an academic or informative nature. In addition to these institutions there were over a hundred projects promoted by public or private foundations, associations, enterprises and private individuals.

Over three million people took part in the centenary celebrations

Based on attendance figures provided to the Secretariat of State for Culture by public institutions on the Committee, a total of 3,249,888 people attended activities related to the official centenary programme.

Among the projects and activities that aroused most interest were the exhibition organised by National Library of Spain and AC/E, Miguel de Cervantes: from the life to the myth (1616‐2016) visited by 78,012 people; the activities of the Museo Casa Cervantes in Valladolid, with 24,892 attendees; the Ballet Don Quijote staged by the National Dance Company, with 22,180 spectators; the coproduction by the National Classical Theatre Company and Ron La Lá, Cervantina, which had 36,671 spectators; the exhibition Miguel EN Cervantes: el retablo de las maravillas, organised by AC/E and the Cervantes Institute, which was visited by a total of 185,436 people; and the exhibition Cervantes, soldier and poet of the Castile-La Mancha region, which was visited by 401,641 people.

Meanwhile, the fairs and the Cervantes Market of the Alcalá de Henares City Council attracted a total of 235,000 visitors. In Andalusia approximately 20,842 people turned up to the various activities scheduled as part of the centenary celebrations, among which was the Gigantic Interactive Map of Cervantes' Andalusia which attracted 9,600 people.

Major investment by public authorities

With regard to the amounts contributed by the various entities represented on the National Committee, the General State Administration Services (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation/AECID, Action Cultural Española AC/E, Cervantes Institute, and TurSpain) contributed a total of 5,449,534.71 euros. Meanwhile, the autonomous regions of Madrid, Andalusia, Castile and Leon, Aragon and Castile-La Mancha contributed a total of 4,792,957.02 euros. Finally, the Alcalá de Henares City Council provided 174,000 euros.

A virtual approach to Cervantes in the Routes of Cervantes

Another ambitious project promoted by the Secretariat of State for Culture, in conjunction with Google Cultural Institute, and with the collaboration of AC/E, the National Library of Spain, the State Archives, Alcalá de Henares City Council and other institutions was The Routes of Cervantes.

The website provides visitors with access to a great variety of contents, including the main virtual exhibitions organised to celebrate the centenary, a history of Cervantes created specifically for this portal, visits to his museum houses , Cervantes-related content kept in state archives (all of which have been digitised), and the work of contemporary visual artists.

We should also mention the master collaboration agreement entered into by the Secretariat of State for Culture and the Spanish television company RTVE for the launch and promotion of informational and other initiatives, and the setting up of audiovisual projects related to the 4th Centenary of the Death of Miguel de Cervantes. For its part the RTVE has created a special slot in its a la carte TV schedule where viewers can watch special programmes designed with the centenary in mind, including videos, audios, news and copious archive material.