Blood Wedding building saved from ruin

ALMERIA’S provincial council, the Diputacion, is rescuing the Cortijo del Fraile.

The extensive property located inside the Cabo de Gata-Nija national park was built by Dominican friars in the 18th century.

It was officially protected as a privately-owned Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) in 2010 but now that it faces imminent collapse, the Diputacion has begun negotiations to purchase the  complex of buildings and their 23 hectares of land.

“Recovering and promoting this building with its iconic cultural, historic and social associations will be carried out in the public sector,” Javier Aureliano Garcia, the Diputacion president told the local media.

The Cortijo del Fraile was the scene of the notorious Crimen de Nijar, a 1928 murder case that several years later inspired Federico Garcia Lorca’s novel, Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding).

Decades on, the Cortijo provided a location for films including spaghetti westerns, The Price of Death and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as the Spanish television series, Los Hombres de Paco that featured clumsy but well-meaning policemen.

Once rehabilitated, the Cortijo will become a cultural centre that can be enjoyed by all Almeria residents and visitors, Javier Aureliano Garcia announced.