Benidorm stages its foundation in Plaça de Sant Jaume 698 years ago

Now 698 years ago, in 1325, Admiral Bernat de Sarriá granted Benidorm its Town Charter, thus marking on Punta de Canfali the birth of the town that has ended up becoming a benchmark tourist destination in the Mediterranean. Last night, at Plaça de Sant Jaume, Benidorm recalled this key passage in its history by Grup Carta de Poblament, which, once again, had the collaboration of members of the peñista collective in representing this chapter.

At 9:00 p.m., the representation of the granting of the Town Charter began, based on the text written more than three decades ago by Professor Pasqual Almiñana and in which it is staged how l'Almirall Bernat de Sarriá granted a charter of nature to Benidorm nearly seven centuries ago.

A performance attended by, among others, the mayor, Toni Pérez; the councilors of Culture and Festivals, Jaime Jesús Pérez and Jesús Carrobles; members of the municipal Corporation; the queens of the Festes Majors Patronals, Angélica Morenilla, and Daniela Talavera, with their courts of honor; the president of the Commission, Vicente Solaz; and that of the Association of Penyes, Ramón Cano.

After the performance it was the turn of the maintainer, the journalist Sergi Castillo, who recovered the story about the discovery in a Madrid bookstore of a 15th-century copy of the Charter of Poblament; a discovery made by Juan Llorca from Benidorm. In his speech, he also referred to the evolution of Benidorm and recalled the vision that writers such as Gabriel Miró, Joan Fuster, Vicent Andrés Estellés, and Sylvia Plath had of it at different times in the 20th century.

The mayor also mentioned one of them, Gabriel Miró, enunciating a passage from his work 'Años y leguas', in which a passage states that "Benidorm was intimate and mixed in the Mediterranean with perfect blues".

During his speech, Toni Pérez referred to the efforts made in recent decades to preserve, witness and value the history of Benidorm. On the one hand, he highlighted the work undertaken in 1987 by Professor Pasqual Almiñana so that "this staging and theatricalization" of the moment of granting the Charter of Poblament "reaches the whole world."
And on the other, he pointed out the commitment of Benidorm City Council to recover the historical heritage. A bet that in 2019 allowed to bring to light the remains of the old castle of Punta Canfali, of which the great writers mentioned by the maintainer "had no more reference" than "word of mouth" and of which "now Benidorm people and all those who visit us know” of its existence, “they see it and live it”.

The commemoration of the 698th anniversary of the founding of Benidorm culminates tomorrow, Monday, the 8th, with an institutional plenary session at noon.