Madrid on Quest to Find the Remains of ‘Don Quixote’ Author
He has been hailed as the father of the novel, a writer who wielded the Spanish language so forcefully that it is nicknamed for him: la lengua de Cervantes (“the language of Cervantes”).
But when Miguel de Cervantes died nearly four hundred years ago, he was penniless, and his burial took place, like much of his life, in obscurity.
Although a small plaque on the side of the Convent of Trinitarians in Madrid marks the “Don Quixote” author’s final resting place, the precise location of his gravesite is unknown. The coffin containing his remains was lost during construction work years ago.
This is set to change on Monday, when a team of historians and anthropologists will use radars to map the subsurface of the church’s floor, hoping to find, and appropriately commemorate, the Spanish writer’s remains by the end of next year.
Lithograph of Miguel de Cervantes.
Francisco Etxeberria, a forensic anthropologist involved in the search, does not think identifying the remains will be difficult. Cervantes was distinctive looking, a self-described toothless hunchback who lost use of his left arm while serving as a soldier during a war against the Ottoman Turks.
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