PHOTOGRAPH: J. TORRES/SANTANDER
PERE A. Serra, founder of The Majorca Daily Bulletin and President of the Grup Serra media group, was awarded the Fine Arts Gold Order of Merit at the Festival Palace in Santander yesterday. The ceremony was hosted by the King and Queen of Spain.
Also present at the event were Spain's Culture Minister, Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde; the President of Cantabria, Miguel Angle Revilla and the Mayor of Santander, Iñigo de la Serna Hernaiz.
These annual awards are made by the Spanish government to those individuals and organisations who, according to the Minister for Culture, do the most to promote and encourage art and culture, and protect artistic heritage. The award recognises Serra as a patron of the arts and the close professional relationship he had with internationally-renowned Catalan artist Joan Miro. The artist, who spent many years on Majorca, created the logo which now represents Spain worldwide. The Gold Order of Merit also acknowledges Serra's creation of a newspaper group which publishes in four languages, his founding of the Es Baluard Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Palma, and his setting up of The Art Train Foundation which has promoted the artistic heritage of Soller including the recently opened Can Prunera, a stately home now converted into a museum of Modernist art.