The smaller than life-size sculpture shows the writer wearing a long coat and a priest hat and carrying a briefcase.
Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló ((Folgueroles 1845 - Vallvidrera 1902)) was a Spanish writer, regarded as one of the greatest poets of Catalan literature and a prominent literary figure of the Renaixença, a cultural revival movement of the late Romantic era. The bishop Josep Torras i Bages, one of the main figures of Catalan nationalism, called him the "Prince of Catalan poets". He was also known as mossèn (Father) Cinto Verdaguer, because of his career as a priest, and informally also simply "mossèn Cinto" (with Cinto being a short form of Jacint).
Jacint Verdaguer contributed to the renaissance of Catalan culture, from a Catholic and conservative position with a body of work that includes epic and lyrical poetry, narrative prose, journalism and travel writing, which had a tremendous popular reception unequalled at the time. In the seminary at Vic, studying for his ecclesiastical career, he familiarised himself with rhetoric and the classics and it was here that he began his poetic writings.
He was proclaimed "Mestre en Gai Saber" (Master in the Art of Poetry) in the 1880 Jocs Florals (Literary Contest) in Barcelona. His work, set to music by different composers (Nicolau, Morera, Millet, Falla, etc.) and extensively imitated, published and studied, has been translated, in good part, into the major languages.
The plaque reads (Catalan):
Àgora cultural, el ministeri de cultura i el comu d'Escaldes-Engordany en homenatge amb motiu del centenari de la mort de Mn. Jacint Verdaguer (1902 - 2002) 19 de novembre del 2002
Translation:
The Agora cultural, the Ministry of Culture and the Escaldes-Engordany Comu in honor of the centenary of the death of Mn. Verdaguer (1902 - 2002) 19 November 2002
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