Café Novelty

[3] The most outstanding patrons of the Café Novelty are Miguel de Unamuno, the Spanish philosopher that organized the literary social gathering (tertulia), Ortega y Gasset, Antonio Tovar, Juan Benet, Pedro Laín Entralgo, Francisco Umbral, Carmen Martín Gaite, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester and Víctor García de la Concha.

To the right of the entrance usually united merchants, stock-breeders, manufacturers and rightists participate in the daily tertulia, and to the left, liberals, medics, lawyers and professors of the university etc.

Laín Entralgo, Dionisio Ridruejo, Agustín de Foxá founded the Spanish National Radio between 1936 and 1937 in the tables of the Café.

In 1964 the son of Agustin Francisco began to manage the café, renovated it in the style of the epoch and gave back the original name, which has not changed since.

The café turned into a centre of political secrecy, often opposed to the ideology of Franco, and in its remote salons were held reunions to write manifestos and to hide duplicating machines.

In 1978 the city hall of Salamanca, which was the owner of the real estate, proposed the necessity of confiscation of certain premises, and after the trial on 1 April, the café was closed.

But after difficult negotiations and the gift of a one-third part of the building to the city hall (which was used for its offices) the café was once again opened in 1979 and redecorated by Salvador Yáñez.

The entrance to the Café from The Plaza Mayor of Salamanca .
The Presentation of the sculpture in honour of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester in the Café Novelty in 2000. From the right to the left, the director of The Royal Spanish Academy Víctor García de la Concha , the widow of Torrente, the author Carlos Casares and the sculptor Fernando Mayoral .
The statue of Gonzalo Torrente Ballester in Café Novelty, work of Fernando Mayoral .