Cultural and social life
Nowadays, Spanish cultural life is the result of the external influences received along its history, as it can be seen in its richness and diversity. Little societies are so close to contemporary reality and at the same time so deeply linked to traditions and history.

Dali

Big names of Spanish Arts have been strong enough to break the established standards: Dalí and Picasso in Painting, Cervantes and Quevedo in Literature, Manuel de Falla and Albéniz in Music; and they are just a few examples. All cultural manifestations are directly supported by the Government, whose official organism in charge is the Ministry of Education and Culture and, to a lesser extent, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which dedicate a big part of the public Funds to culture.

Spanish literature has developed rather like vertigino as a cultural expression. Nowadays, it is considered that the publishing sector has consolidates as it considers the book as a cultural good, an expression instrument whose authors and tendencies have gone beyond frontiers due to the quality and the subjects of its narrative. Besides, Spanish publishing industry takes advantage of this fact to expand Spanish as a language all over the world. This is the aim of the 'Instituto Cervantes' (Cervantes Institute), a public institution created in 1991 to promote and teach Spanish and to spread Spanish and Latin American cultures.

Pravda Museum

The Prado museum is an emblematic area in Madrid and Europe, locatedin Madrid and gathers three of the most important museums: the Prado museum, the Thyssen Bornemisza museum and the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía national museum. There you can fin the 'Meninas' by Velázquez, the 'majas' by Goya and the Guernica by Picasso, together with other masterpieces of Art history.

In Spain, apart from Christmas, Easter and Carnival, all towns and villages have their own Patron Saints whose festivities last a few days. Among them there are the 'San Fermines' in Pamplona, the 'Fallas' in Valencia', the 'Feria de Abril' (April Fair) in Seville and San Isidro in Madrid.

Bullfighting is a national emblem in Spain; it is accepted by the majority of Spaniards, who consider it a very important cultural and artistic manifestation that has survived until our days. At the same time it is a discussed tradition, especially because of animal protection organisations, who consider bullfighting unjustified and a torture for animals.

Flamenco dancing

Flamenco is another famous cultural manifestation; folklore tradition from the south of Spain, particularly from Andalusia, has gone beyond frontiers and become a world famous entertainment. Flamenco has become so important as cultural manifestation that you can find flamenco schools anywhere in Spain.

Regarding film industry, Spain plays an important role at European and world level with international and awarded directors such as Pedro Almodóvar, Bigas Luna and Fernando Trueba. This industry has also been supported by important international careers of actors and actresses like Antonio Banderas or Penélope Cruz, the worldwide known, Javier Bardem, Carmen Mauras, Aitana Sanchez-Gijón.

Geography turns Spain into a privileged country for sports. The favourite water sports are sailing, sport fishing, scuba-diving and windsurf; nature is appropriate for horse riding or bike routes; flying in an ultra light airplane or paragliding also enjoy of favourable conditions: Other sports to be practiced are golf, tennis or ski.

Concerning cooking, Spain is also very important. The quality and variety of its gastronomy is one of the main attractions. We cannot talk about a single traditional gastronomy, but about several regional ones. Paella, soups and pies from Galicia, fabada from Asturias (beans); Madrilean style tripe and potato omelette are some of the thousand of famous dishes in Spain.

While living in Spain, foreigners must take into account that habits here might be a little different from the origin country regarding time, as here meals are a little later than usual. Eating outside is not a luxury in Spain either. Most people work from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.; therefore, many of them eat in restaurants.

We have to highlight the wine industry. Spain is one of the most important wine manufacturers. Besides, wine is an essential element in Spanish cooking.

<previous....next>