La Celestina

Calixto and Melibea

Calixto and Melibea park is a beautiful garden in Salamanca. It is the garden of the house where Melibea lived in the story, La Celestina. La Celestina is a love story with a tragic ending. The story is the Spanish version of the story of Romeo and Juliet.

The garden is located in the old town of Salamanca. The garden was opened on June 12, 1981. The garden is 2,500 square meters and is built on part of the old city wall, offering a beautiful view of the Río Tormes with its Roman bridge. On the other side, the garden offers a view of the old town and the beautiful old cathedral. The garden has a great variety of colorful flowers, plants and fruit and nut trees. And is an ideal place to relax and enjoy the tranquility, the view and the romantic atmosphere of the garden.

La CelestinaThe garden is the setting of the love story between Calisto and Melibea in the book "La Celestina" by Fernando de Rojas. Therefore, the name of the park refers to the two main characters of the story, Calisto and Melibea. The park is also home to a statue of Celestina, the matchmaker between Calisto and Melibea.

The story is about Calisto, who is an employee of Pleberio, Melibea's father. Calisto falls in love with Melibea and enlists the help of a matchmaker. The matchmaker, named Celestina, also owns a brothel. Celestina matches Malisto and Melibea by telling Melibea that a man is seriously ill and can only be cured by Melibea's attention. Celestina arranges an appointment between the two in Pleberio's garden.

Calisto's two servants do not trust Celestina, so they try to convince Calisto not to accept her help. However, when the servants find out that Calisto cannot change his mind they decide to make a pact with Celestina. They decide to help her in exchange for some of the money Celestina receives from Calisto. On the night of the meeting, however, the two servants find out that Celestina has no intention of sharing part of the money with them. At this, the servants go to Celestina's brothel and kill her, however, they are caught and the two servants are also executed by one of the prostitutes.

In the meantime, another tragedy takes place in Pleberio's garden. In desperation, Calisto tries to climb a ladder to get to Melibea's window, but Calisto falls off the ladder and dies. Melibea, however, cannot live without him, so she tells her father the whole love story between her and Calisto. After telling him this, she robs herself of life by jumping off a tower.

La Celestina is considered one of the most important and well-known works of Spanish literature. This book is also marked as the end of medieval literature and the beginning of the literary renaissance in Spain.