Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Calatrava's activities during this period
also took him not only to scenes where
ancient history had been made in the Old
World but to pristine locations in the New.
His work on such varied projects as the
expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum
and the Sacramento River Bridge, both dar-
ingly innovative in design, made him well
known in the United States. When the
destruction of the World Trade Center in
New York City in September 2001 opened
the way for new construction and new
thinking, Calatrava and his associates were
selected to play a major part in the great
enterprise with a commission to design and
construct the transportation center on the
site. His plans revealed a grand concept of
a physical and spiritual gateway to the city,
with soaring arches and grand vistas far
beyond the mundane, utilitarian concepts
usually favored in such venues. His admir-
ers spoke of how earlier work on air and
rail facilities in Portugal and France had
foreshadowed this approach. They spoke,
too, of how Calatrava's design for the two
dozen bridges that he had created in vari-
ous parts of the world reflected his deep
artistic vision of bridges linking past and
present and bringing people together. His
ideas for this great project made its com-
pletion the most eagerly anticipated of all
his work.
several high-ranking officials, eventually
becoming the assistant and confidant of the
duke of L ERMA . Exercising increasing influ-
ence over his master, Calderón became the
“man behind the throne,” for Lerma was
the privado, or most trusted adviser, of King
P HILIP III. Calderón's fortunes (both figura-
tively and literally) rose with those of Lerma
during the early 1600s. The king so appreci-
ated Calderón's intelligence and good judg-
ment that he showered him with estates
and titles. Calderón returned as envoy to
his native Netherlands for a time and was
rewarded for his diplomatic services with
the title marques de Siete Iglesias.
The reign of Philip III was increasingly
characterized by a carnival of corruption in
which Lerma and all of his associates lived
lavishly at the public expense, but Calderón
exhibited a level of arrogance and ostenta-
tion that made him the greatest target of
criticism. The queen, Margarita of Austria,
was convinced by her clerical advisers that
Calderón needed to be curbed, and she
urged the king to distance himself from the
Lerma-Calderón clique. The sudden death
of the queen provoked a flood of rumors
that she had been poisoned by order of
Calderón. Although there was no evidence
to support this allegation, it stimulated a
new outburst of criticism and led to the
arrest and detention of Calderón for a
period of several months (1619-20). Just
when Philip III had come to the conclusion
that Calderón had suffered sufficiently for
any misdeeds he might have committed,
the monarch died, preventing Calderón's
release. P HILIP IV, wishing to avoid the
opprobrium that had been heaped upon
the previous reign, ordered Calderón to
stand trial for a number of capital offenses.
Although the more serious accusations
Calderón, Rodrigo (marqués de
Siete Iglesias) (1570-1621)
Spanish politician
Born the son of a Spanish nobleman and
garrison commander in what is now Bel-
gium, but was then part of the Netherlands,
Calderón was educated at the University of
Valladolid and served as private secretary to
 
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