Pemartin Palace

This palace is also known as Palacio de los Marqueses de Mesa de Asta, and it is located in Plaza de San Juan (San Juan Square). The palace is headquarter of Andalusian Flamenco Centre.

Its construction began in the 15th century and its first owner was Alvar Lopez de Hinojosa who was politician of Jerez. Currently, the owner is the government of Andalusia, being the headquarter of the Andalusian Flamenco Centre where visitors can listen many disc and check out to biography and old data about this musical style. Also, there are daily projections of flamenco videos.

The palace has two floors. It highlights its Moorish decoration and stained glasses. The main door it is slightly to the left of the assembly of the facade.

Inside the building, there is a square patio that distributes the rooms of palace.

The Centro Andaluz del Flamenco (Andalusian Flamenco Centre) was founded in 1993 and is an Andalusian institution which has like aims the recovery, conservation, investigation and diffusion of flamenco.

The institution has plenty of material linked with flamenco: sound library with 15,000 recordings, videos, photos and library with 4,000 books.

Contact, visit and location

Address: Plaza de San Juan, 1. Postal code 11403

Telephones:

(+34) 956 349265

(+34) 956 322711

(+34) 956 321602

Fax: (+34) 956 321127

Email: flamenco.ccd@juntadeandalucia.es

Facebook: Centro Andaluz de Flamenco

Schedule: Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 2pm

Free entry

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Bullfighting museum

This museum is located in the city centre of the city and has a collection with many objects and artworks linked with bullfighting. Also, the museum has an important place dedicated to the breeding of bulls, very important in the outsides of Jerez.

The museum was built in an old wine cellar and conserved the typical structure of a winery.

Moreover, it is included in ticket, a tasting of typical tapas of the region.

Schedule: Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 2pm. Sundays closed, except reservation of groups.

Price: 2.40€ (with the price of the tasting included)

Address: Pozo del Olivar, 6

Telephone: 956 31 90 00

Website: www.alfonso-catering.com

Email: comercial@alfonso-catering.com

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Williams & Humbert Winery

Introduction

Williams & Humbert is a centenary winery which represents tradition and innovation in the sherry wine market sector.  The current winery was built during the 70's and is one of the most impressive and biggest wineries of the world which also has the National Award of Architecture. The winery is located in good place, next to the city centre of Jerez, and surrounded of gardens, being one of the most attractive and famous wineries of the region.

History

The wine cellar was founded in 1877 by Sir Alexander Williams and Arthur Humbert.

From the inauguration to nowadays, the winery conserve some wines and brandies which are keeping in oaks barrels of high quality. During the 60's, José Medina created his own winery and got success soon based in the international market. He and the Dutch multinational Royal Ahold bought Williams & Humbert, their last acquisition that is the brand of all their products.

Nowadays, the wineries are located in Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa María and Sanlucar de Barrameda. The headquarters is the biggest winery of Europe and also has vineyards and a distribution company (Sovisur). The company sells its products in 80 countries and during the last years has diversified its market through ham and cheese.

Visit

Visitors can admire the huge ageing winery with 1 kilometre long where there are around 60,000 American oak barrels that can be observed from the spiral stair. Also there is a sculpture of the Virgin Mary with a candle which is turned on all days by the employees to ask for good work day; and a car Ford B of the year 1930.

Furthermore, the visitors will visit the most important room of the wine cellar, the Gran Duque de Alba room, where there is a museum of wine. There are all the tools used during the manufacture of wine, most of them from 18th century.

One of the most singular facilities of the winery is the horse facilities. The wine cellar offers horses' spectacles during the visits.

During the facilities, visitors can see some barrels which have been signed by famous persons who have visited the wine cellar. As examples, the Beatles, the Kings of Spain or the Queen of United Kingdom.

Finally, visitors have a tasting and aperitifs in which can admire the products of the winery.

The duration of the visit is around one hour and half.

Schedules: from Mondays to Fridays 10, 12 and 13:30. Afternoons and feast days only with reservation.

Contact:

Telephone: 956 353 400

Mobile phone: 677 452 256

Email: visitas@williams-humbert.com

Website: http://www.williams-humbert.com/

Address: Carretera Nacional IV Km 641 Postal Code 11408 Jerez de la Frontera

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"Noches de Verano" (Summer nights)

"Summer nights" is an activity that is celebrated in Jerez for some years. During July and August, there will be many concert of flamenco, classical music, tango and other styles and activities that will take place in the Alcazar, St. Domingo cloister and Asuncionsquare.

(During the following days, this post will be updated with all the information about the concerts)

July

·         2^nd of July: (St. Domingo cloister) “Illusions” (Felipa del Moreno's recital) at 10pm. Felipa Medrano Lara (Known as Felipa del Moreno) is a flamenco singer of Jerez de la Frontera, who has worked in many places of the world. For instance, in London recorded a spectacle with the famous dancer Joaquín Cortes, and also has worked in the Mont-de-Marsan festival. She has a great voice and her artistic qualities are famous by the flamenco fans. The spectacle has been called "Illusions", because is the official presentation of her own recital as soloist and her illusion to develop it in her hometown, Jerez de la Frontera. The price is 10€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         3^rd of July: (St. Domingo cloister) “Las cartas a Julieta”(“The letters to Julieta “ ) of The New Costelas band at 10pm. This band born in 2012 of union of 5 friends by their admiration of contemporary musicians that have string quartet in their works. Letters to Julieta is a musical spectacle of The new Costelas band that will play one of the most singular works of the British singer Elvis Costello. The work is dedicated to an imaginary person called Julieta Capuleto through letters. This band provides a singular version with their women voices in a musical genre far of the traditional string quartet. The price is 7€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         4^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) “Hispania pianissimo flamenco” of Manolo Carrasco at 9pm. Manolo Carrasco is composer, pianist and orchestra director who has won many of awards in Spain and France. He is the composer of the music of The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and has done some tours in Japan, China, United States, Europe and Spain. Manolo has 12 discos, 3 re-editions in Asia and 1 in United States. The price is 19€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         5^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) God save the Queen (International Tribute to Queen) at 10pm. This spectacle is a tribute to the band Queen, its music and its leader Freddie Mercury. The spectacle uses the original choreography, costumes and videos, also has light panels and other scenery stuff. The price is 25€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         10^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) 'Pasión Tango – Compañía el Despiole' (‘Tango Passion - the despiole Company') at 10pm. “Pasion Tango” is an spectacle that has all the expression of the Argentinean tango with the actuation of two of the best couples right now, the singing and the poetry interpreted by Martin Gatica and the music of “El Despiole” orchestra directed by Orlando Dibelo. The price is 15 or 20€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         11^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) “Echándole lunares” Laura Gallego spectacle at 10pm. It is a spectacle that sounds as the traditional flamenco and remembers to La Paquera,   Antonio Mairena, Caracol, Camarón... who are considered the masters of flamenco. Laura will sing some songs of different types of flamenco. The price is 10 and 15€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         12^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) "Llorando por Granada" (Crying for Granada), "Los Puntos" at 10pm. "Llorando por Granada, 40 años, la gira de Los Puntos" (Crying for Granada, 40 years, the tour of Los Puntos), at 10pm. "Los Puntos" was one of the more success bands of Spain during 70's. This pop band has achieved many successful songs which have been sung for many singers, some of them, contemporary. The price is 18€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         17^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) “Big Band de Jerez” at 10pm. A Big Band is a spectacle in which is very important the improvisation. It is composed by a minimum of 15 members that play different styles of jazz, like Swing, Blues, Bebop, Cool, Fire Jazz... The "Big Band Jerez" is a group of musicians that play a varied repertoire of music in which intended to show the historical development of big bands, from 20's to the current fusions with other styles. The price is 12€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         18^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) "Improvisao" ("improvised") the spectacle of Farruquito at 10pm. "Improvisao" ("improvised") the spectacle of Farruquito at 10pm. Farruquito is an important flamenco dancer of Spain who born inside of a famous family of artists. He has danced around the world and got many awards like the best artist of the big apple of 2001 by The New York Times. In this spectacle, Farruquito remembers his origin and all the things that he has learnt during his career. It is highly recommended to attend this spectacle because is one of the best flamenco dancers at this moment and his shows always have good reviews of flamenco experts. The prices are 23 and 25€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

·         19^th of July (Alcazar of Jerez) "La revirada- compañia Rea Danza" at 10pm. "La revirada" is a spectacle that has all the expression of the Argentinean tango which represents the development of the tango during different periods. The prices are 15 and 20€ and the duration is 75 minutes.

·         22^nd of July (Plaza de la Asuncion) "Soul Tribute" by The Dock at 10pm. The Dock honours to one of the most influential music ever, the soul of the 60's and 70's. This band offers a really big repertoire of the golden age of the "black music" as Otis Redding, Ray Charles, James Brown, Marvin Gaye…It is free entry and the duration is 60 minutes approximately.

·         25^th of July (St. Domingo cloister) Presentation of David Carpio disc which is called "Mi verdad" at 10pm. David Carpio is a flamenco singer from Jerez de la Frontera. David has wanted that his first disc shows that the classic flamenco sing is "more alive than ever" and due to this, he has decided that the presentation will be on live. The prices are 8 and 10€ and the duration is 80 minutes.

The information will be updated with the next spectacles and performances soon.

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‘De brindis con brandy de Jerez’ (A toast with brandy of Jerez)

It is a fair dedicated to brandy that it will celebrate between the 2^nd and 6^th of July, in Alameda Vieja (next to the Alcazar). This celebration is within of the program of Jerez European Wine City 2014.

The fair will have 16 stands (jaimas, Arab tents style) in which will develop many activities as, for instance, brandy tastings, show cocktails and show cookings, concerts, ice sculptures... Moreover, it will celebrate competitions of the best cocktail using brandy of Jerez, the best pairing and the best ice cream using brandy.

The fair will open the 2^nd of July at 8pm and the artist Nolasco will inaugurate at 11:30pm the concerts that will be celebrated during the fair. Next Thursday 3^rd will participate the band "Los mundos de Yupi" at 10pm and "Lucian y Regina Blue" at 12am. Friday 4^th of July will be developed other activities as "Performance brandy" and the performance of "DJ Residente".

The fair will be open from 5pm to 2am.

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"The Virgin Mary meditating", by Francisco Zurbarán returns to the Cathedral museum

The Jerez Cathedral has received "The Virgin Mary meditating" painting that is shown in the Cathedral museum. The painting was lent during 9 months to participate in two international expositions, in Italy and Belgium.

"The Catalogue of Zurbarán" was the title of the Italian exposition which collected around 50 paintings of the most important museums of Europe as, the Prado, Louvre or The National Gallery of London; and also, some paintings of Andalusia as "The Virgin Mary meditating".

The painting is one of the jewels of the Cathedral museum and it is an important work of the Spanish Baroque. Zurbarán also has some works in the Charterhouse of Jerez.

Source: Diario de Jerez

http://www.diariodejerez.es/article/jerez/1794284/la/virgen/nina/meditando/zurbaran/vuelve/museo/la/catedral.html

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The St. Domingo Cloister gets 100,000 visitors in two years after the reopening

The St. Domingo Cloister had been closed during 12 years for the building's restoration. The reopening was 2 years ago and the building has been visited by 100,000 visitors.

During the restoration, the time limits were postponed and developed in different phases. The works had 106,100 work hours and an investment of 6, 5 millions of Euros.

Making the heart of the cultural activities in the Jerez centre was the objective to this building, and it was an aim that the city council got soon. Exhibitions, book presentations, meetings, conferences, concerts, civil weddings, private cocktail parties, dinners, fashion shows, flamenco ...... have been some of the activities that have been developed in the Cloister.

The cloister construction began in 1430 and was built over an old castle's walls (It could be a castle of the 12th century or 13th century). In fact, there is a horseshoe arch of the Islamic period that was discovered in last restoration. It was a slow construction, because in the 15th century only the ground floor was finished. The cloister was one of the most important cloister of Andalusia.

After the Mendizabal confiscation the monument was bought by many owners and currently the Jerez city council is the owner.

You can get more information of the Cloister and the St. Domingo church in the next link:

http://jereztourism.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/santo-domingo-church-and-cloister.html

Source: Diario de Jerez http://www.diariodejerez.es/article/jerez/1789994/los/claustros/alcanzan/los/visitantes/sus/dos/anos/vida.html

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