Salvador Dalí home town re-creation in China

[caption id="attachment_5156" align="alignright" width="384" caption="Cadaques, Spain | Photo from flickr by MorBCN | http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcnbits/209874145/"][/caption]

Residents of Cadaqués, home town of the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, are amazed by a Chinese developer's plans to build a replica of their town in Xiamen Bay. Architects have been on site, taking measurements and photographs.

As home to the painter Salvador Dalí and inspiration for some of his greatest and strangest artistic endeavours, the Costa Brava fishing port of Cadaqués is used to the surreal. But the latest project involving the north-eastern Spanish town has astonished even the cosmopolitan inhabitants of a place that boasts more art galleries per square kilometre than anywhere else in the country.

A Chinese developer has decided to build a replica of the town half-way across the globe in Xiamen Bay, China.

Architects from developers China Merchants Zhangzhou visited Cadaqués in June, taking measurements, photographing buildings and worrying about whether Chinese fire engines would fit down its tiny streets.

Sources at the company said they had found a spot that was geographically similar to Cadaqués, with its gently sloping hills and protected bay. "Building work will start in September or October," a spokesman said.

Read full article from The Guardian, UK