“History tells us that the Cuellaranos bought San Francisco during the Confiscation, for the Duke of Alburquerque, and now we buy it for ourselves.” With this ruling, the Councilor for Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Maite Sanchez has re-evaluated even more, if possible, the cloister and garden of the San Francisco convent once the first cleaning work on the space has been completed.
Approximately 4,500 square meters that reserve more than one surprise after crossing the threshold. The Consistory bought this property at the beginning of the year, for 487,500 euros, to transform it into a future auditorium but, as the details become known, the space allows for much more.
In the course of its history, the former convent of the Franciscan friars, in addition to its religious use, was looted, sold, and first transformed into a flour factory and subsequently its last destination was that of a chicory factory. After the various cleaning and debris removal works that were carried out in the summer months and the review by the industrial archaeologist Isabel Marqués, the important industrial heritage and value of the building was revealed. This week, several members of the City Council showed the property to the members of the commission working for the construction of an auditorium in the city, so that they could discover all its potential.
Arcosolio which communicates with the garden of the ancient convent. – Photo: CS
As soon as you cross the access threshold, behind the old staircase, in an old arch, what are the remains of paintings of the old Brotherhood of Veracruz that settled in this convent in the 16th century go unnoticed. An archway is used as a storeroom and one of the walls bordering the monastery is covered by a brick wall which contained some heavy machinery from the old factory.
In the space, divided into several floors and with a labyrinth of corridors and stairs, the old machinery was found, now covered and protected. Given the historical industrial value it has, it is not excluded to create a chicory interpretation center in the building, in the future, given its importance in the Cuellaran economy, in the 20th century, in addition to the future auditorium, music school, museum or classrooms related to culture and even spaces for fairs.
In Cuéllar, in 1974, according to data collected by the official chronicler of the town, Father Balbino Velasco, in his book ‘Historia de Cuéllar’, there were five chicory factories with 45 employees and in that year chicory was exported for a value of 22 million pesetas.
In what used to be ‘La Noria’ chicory, roasting and pressing machines, hoppers, pipes, ovens, pulley elevators, packaging machines, silos, as well as documents and packaging materials from which the future project will be proposed. «The old factory coexists with the convent, the state of conservation of the machines is rather interesting, they are important pieces from an ethnographic point of view; Faced with the purchase, it was essential to maintain the machines because they are part of the industrial process of the city and a study is being carried out on what the chicory process looks like, ”says Sánchez.
In a tour of the building, historical elements with pipes or hatches are juxtaposed, as well as the old vaults with the holes that were used to throw sacks of chicory from one floor to another. In the central patio, several shields at different heights attract attention, which will have to be studied if that was their original location or if they were placed there. Opposite, in the highest part of the opposite wall, there is another series of shields and windows which allow us to imagine what the cloister would have been like in its original period. There is an open door in an archway that leads to what would be the garden space and another archway that connects multiple rooms and is reminiscent of the building’s past along with the bell tower at the top and the different viewpoints.
After having invested around 40,000 euros in cleaning works, debris clearance, dangerous elements removal and a topographical study, the soil and masonry archeology works will be contracted out, which should start at the end of January, and the masterplan will start from the cuellaran architects Jesús and Fernando Nieto. The investment made since the purchase would have increased to 100,000 euros.
All of this is deemed necessary to launch a competition of ideas that will serve to grasp the possible definitive project, where according to the mayor, Carlos Fraile, the space of the auditorium stalls would be located in the central nave of the church. In terms of research, Sánchez adds that with the previous study he intends to produce a publication for Cuellaranos.
The mayor does not hide that it is a project that passes a legislature and that is why it must be “a matter of the municipality, we must feel proud to be the owners of this space in the heart of the center with enormous historical values and heritage value” , points out.
