The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport of the Community of Madrid has initiated the procedure to declare an Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Monument the mural created by the multidisciplinary artist from Lanzarote César Manrique Cabrera (1919-1992) in the middle of a street in the capital of Spain.
This mural is a sample of Manrique's artistic world, where plastic disciplines are combined, on this occasion plastic art with architecture.
In the work, Manrique shows schematically the constructive process and interprets different parts through figurative scenes.
In May of last year, the Madrid City Council temporarily suspended for one year the works on the facade and the commercial premises located at number 9 of Santa Cruz de Marcenado street, in the Centro district. That temporary suspension, which only affects the mural, can be extended for one more year.
This work, made of ceramic, dates back 50 years and was created by Manrique in 1954 commissioned by a company. To the part that is seen from the exterior, a part of the work that is not visible from the public road is added.
In the year 2022, the painter Patricia Esquivias urged to consider the inclusion of Manrique's work in the catalog of protected elements. The painter commissioned a report from the professor of the Complutense University of Madrid and expert in Manrique's work, Violeta Izquierdo.
The Community of Madrid has opened the public information period so that any natural or legal person can examine the file, which can be consulted physically at the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage, and thus present the allegations.
History of the mural
The architect Juan Manuel Pradillo Moreno de la Santa designed this building. In the lower part of the property, a construction materials warehouse was located that specialized in ceramic materials. César Manrique then carried out a vertical enclosure of the access from the street to the commercial premises.
In the mid-fifties, César Manrique collaborated with different architects from the capital of Lanzarote. "The mural is part of that current of synthesis between art and architecture, of geometric figuration, also constituting the first ceramic mural of its kind made in Madrid by the artist," the Community of Madrid has indicated in its Official Gazette.
Manrique was the most important multidisciplinary artist of Lanzarote, one of the most relevant of the Canary Islands and the rest of Spain. His work was a constant search to integrate art, with nature and architecture, being a precursor in Europe in the application of an ecological aesthetic.
