An exhibition explains the history of the Town Charter from 1325 through the documents that are preserved.

Luis Duart i Alabarta Room at Boca del Calvari Museum in Benidorm has been hosting the exhibition ' Benidorm Town Charter (1325) through documents’ since yesterday. Curated by emeritus professor Rafael Alemany Ferrer, the exhibition reviews and explains the history of the municipality’s founding charter through the preserved historical documents that refer to it. Mayor Toni Pérez, the Councillor for Historical and Cultural Heritage, Ana Pellicer, and the exhibition's curator, who is also the honorary president of the 700th Anniversary Commission, were responsible for presenting the contents of this exhibition during an opening ceremony attended by a large audience. This event was part of the activities organised by the City Council and the 700th Anniversary Commission to commemorate the 700th anniversary of its granting by Admiral Bernat de Sarrià on May 8, 1325.

The mayor highlighted "the relevance, greater or lesser, that this document has had throughout our history from the perspective of study, although the real fact is that it was the text that governed life in this territory" and that knowledge of it "has been the result of the concern and passion of many people to learn more about our history." Toni Pérez thanked all the individuals and organisations that collaborated for their contributions to the 700th Anniversary and emphasised that "if there is one person who has been particularly passionate about this celebration and everything related to this document from the beginning, this is Professor Rafael Alemany."

The mayor also took the opportunity to highlight the figure of the priest Luis Duart i Alabarta, who also researched the Carta de Poblament, translated it from Latin, and left a transcript of it in the Book of Memories of the parish church of Sant Jaume i Santa Anna in 1952, along with the text: "This is a faithful and exact copy of 'The Charter of Benidorm' in the possession of Francisco Llorca y Ferrer, a native and resident of this church, together with the Latin parchment, which is the original text that has not been permitted to be copied."

The exhibition is made up of a collection of documents and panels that include, among other things, four photographs of a reproduction of the original parchment made in 1430; the various translations and editions that have been made of it; and all the people who, in one way or another, contributed to recovering and investigating the history of this document, from Juan Llorca Llorca (1900-1969), who, according to Vicente Zaragoza Soria (1863-1950) who bought the original parchment in a secondhand bookshop in Madrid in 1944; passing through Vicente Zaragoza himself, or others such as Francisco Llorca Ferrer (1916-2006); Vicente Llorca Zaragoza (1914-2009), Pedro Zaragoza Orts (1922-2006), Julio Guillén Tato (1897-1972), Emilio Sáez Sánchez (1917-1988), Luis Duart i Alabarta (1908-1983), Pere Maria Orts i Bosch (1921-2015), Rafael Ferrer Alemany, María Luisa Cabanes Catalá (1948-2008), Antonio Couto de Granja, José Hinojosa Montalvo, Pasqual Almiñana Orozco, Carlos Sáez, Francisco Amillo Alegre and Antonio Bravo García.

The exhibition can be visited until October 9 at Boca del Calvari Museum, along with the rest of the permanent exhibition on display in the Luis Duart i Alabarta Room, and the rest of the museum's content.

CEFIRE Conferences

Before the opening of this interesting exhibition on the Town Charter, Benidorm City Hall Auditorium also hosted the first two CEFIRE conferences yesterday, organised as part of the "700th Anniversary" events. Professor Francisco Amillo Alegre spoke about "Admiral Bernat de Sarrià and the Charter of the Population," while Rafael Ferrer explained "The Charter of the Population through Documents," as a first glimpse into what the public can see about this founding document at the Boca del Calvari Museum.

The mayor welcomed all attendees and thanked CEFIRE, the Centre for Training, Innovation, and Educational Resources, for the continuing education of teachers, for "disseminating knowledge about our Charter of the Population and the 700th Anniversary we are celebrating these days, from an academic perspective."

This afternoon, the sessions, talks, performances, and workshops coordinated by CEFIRE will continue at 4:30 p.m. with a lecture by Pasqual Almiñana entitled "Toponyms of the Benidorm Town Charter," which will take place in the Town Hall Auditorium. Following this, the Town Charter Group will give the first performance of the Town Charter presentation, which they will perform again next Saturday for the general public.

Program of events

On May 8th, the day commemorating the founding of Benidorm, the commemorative event will include the presentation of the official stamp issued by the Post Office and the institutional event commemorating Benidorm Day, at 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., both in the Municipal Plenary Hall. In addition, at 8:30 p.m., the farce "Pudo suceder" (It Could Happen) will be performed in the Assembly Hall of Casa del Fester Diego Cano Enguera.

On Saturday, May 10th, Plaça de Sant Jaume will host a performance of the Carta Pobla (Town Charter) by Carta de Poblament Group of the Verge del Sofratge Association of Penyes. The performance will take place at 9:30 p.m., and on this occasion, the performance will also include musical accompaniment by a group of ancient musical instruments.

The following day, on Sunday, May 11, a concert by the Societat Musical l’Illa de Benidorm will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the Cultural Centre Auditorium. Finally, on Sunday, May 18, at 8:00 p.m., the Church of Sant Jaume i Santa Anna will host another concert, this time featuring by Capella de Ministrers.