4th Might 2022 noticed the sixtieth anniversary of the declaration of the Museo del Prado as an Asset of Cultural Curiosity, and Valencian author Javier Alandes printed a gripping thriller concerning the heroic story of a handful of women and men who fought to cease the Nazis from taking the Prado’s treasures.
Valencia 1936: Javier Alandes begins from a historic reality, the switch of the masterpieces of the Prado Museum to Valencia through the Civil Conflict, and he creates an ingenious novel of intrigue with hints of a thriller’
‘Los guardianes del Prado’ is a novel that mixes reality and characters with fiction. In an train of creativeness and documentation, the creator provides various explanations for historic occasions that would effectively have occurred differently to the official one. Alandes recovers and integrates into the novel one of many nice enigmas of our historical past, the mysterious disappearance of the Republican treasure of the
Vita.
The motion set through the Civil Conflict is mixed with one other that takes place within the very latest previous: 1980 and 1981, with the sabre rattling that culminated within the 23F.
Each historic moments are linked by an unforgettable character,
the journalist Fernando Poveda, whom the reader follows unhesitatingly via the advanced
nooks and crannies of an enchanting investigation.
The characters that underpin the plot of the Nineteen Thirties are of nice power; the architect Alejandro Santoro, the ambiguous and harmful Mateo Aguirre, and the younger womenElisa Aparisi and Bela Silvero; on the opposite facet, the bold Common Gallardo, the fanatical SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen von Schimmer and the smuggler Félix Santurce.
Along with many different real-life characters, the novel options priceless cameos, Heinrich Himmler, Common Queipo de Llano, the author María Teresa León… and even Francisco Franco.
The recreation of the settings is astonishing, particularly the Valencia of the Civil Conflict, sudden capital of the Republic throughout some very intense months.
Due to the descriptive means of Javier Alandes, the reader turns into simply one other passer-by, strolling its streets, sitting on its terraces and feeling the worry of the bombardments.
“Los guardianes del Prado is the novel that has been the toughest to write down of all those I’ve written to date. Probably the most thorough when it comes to documentation, probably the most advanced when it comes to construction and probably the most delicate when it comes to plot. Fictionalising historical past is a troublesome train of weaving actual info with fictitious info, in order that the whole lot can match and the conclusions are believable. However it’s a stunning loom, which I’ve loved very a lot all through the entire technique of creation.
Though there isn’t a level in engaged on the documentation, construction and plots if you don’t embody
the story with characters with a soul. All of the fictional characters have been created from scratch, with the utmost affection, and with the intention that once you learn this novel, you’ll really feel you wanted to know what was going to change into of every one in every of them.
A narrative is its characters, who change into a part of our imaginary household, our imaginary household and we need to stroll with them alongside the trail of their future.”
On the daybreak of the Civil Conflict, Franco entrusts Common Gallardo, a person he trusts, to barter Nazi Germany’s help for the insurgent military. Common J ürgen von Schimmer, the German authorities’s interlocutor, makes it clear what the value is: for sending within the air pressure for bombing raids, the wealthy numismatic assortment of the Nationwide Archaeological Museum; for sending within the dreaded Reich Military floor troops, Dürer’s Self-Portrait, which is within the Prado and likewise within the Prado… Las Meninas.
Gallardo accepts such a deal at his personal threat and, along with a bunch of unscrupulous males, he orchestrates a plan to pay money for all this patrimony and hand it over to the Nazis.
Alejandro Santoro is a younger Valencian architect who will attempt to foil the plot.
For data Javer Alandes and his work, see our article:
http://valencia-international.com/javier-alandes-and-sorolla-fire-and-light/
