The hunt for Pedro Calderón's bones

[Eldorado]

Imagine if William Shakespeare’s remains were no longer in his grave inside Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Imagine if they’d been lost, possibly in an act of desecration during a traumatic 20th century civil war, and nobody can say for certain what happened to the bones of the greatest playwright in the history of these islands.

That’s been the situation in Spain since 1936 when Republican forces torched the church of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores in Madrid, destroying a marble casket containing the remains of Pedro Calderón de la Barca in the process.

It’s 340 years this year since the playwright’s death at the age of 81, an anniversary set to be marked by the retrieval and reburial of his missing remains.

Calderón de la Barca was a shining literary light of Spain’s 17th century Golden Age and is still regarded as arguably the finest dramatist in the history of the nation.

Full article at the New European: Link

Similar article at UK Guardian: Link

Pedro Calderón de la Barca: Wiki