‘L'Atlàntida’ (Atlantis), by Jacint Verdaguer

The most important literary and symbolic milestone of the Renaixença, a movement that heralded the resurgence of Catalan arts and culture, was the restoration of the Jocs Florals literary competition thanks to writers like Joaquim Rubió Ors, Víctor Balaguer and Manuel Milà Fontanals. Jacint Verdaguer won the 1877 Jocs Florals with the epic poem L'Atlàntida. This romantic poem, with which Verdaguer would achieve international fame, tells of the legend of the sinking of the continent of Atlantis, the discovery of the New World and the Christian designs of Spain.