Escuela de Arte de Almería

Escuela de Arte de Almería, officially known as Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño Carlos Pérez Siquier, is an art and design school at Plaza Pablo Cazard in the centre of Almería, Spain. The school occupies part of the former Dominican Convent of Santo Domingo, founded by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 following the Christian conquest of the city. The surviving complex developed around the convent cloister, whose present appearance incorporates later rebuilding completed during the eighteenth century. After the suppression of the convent in the nineteenth century, the building began to be used for education in 1841 and underwent substantial alterations that introduced the eclectic mixture of classical and Neo-Gothic elements visible today. The Escuela de Artes y Oficios itself was founded in 1887 and initially shared the building with the provincial secondary school before moving between several premises and finally returning permanently in 1951. Its most distinctive architectural feature is the large arcaded inner courtyard, which has repeatedly allowed filmmakers to transform the working school into Mexican haciendas, Middle Eastern palaces and other institutional buildings.

Escuela de Arte de Almería has appeared in Catlow (1971), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), El Ingenio (2011), Die Akte General (2016), Amanece (2023) and Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026). Its courtyard has represented the home of a Mexican general and the palace of the Sultan of Hatay, while its façade and interiors have also been transformed into an Israeli hotel, locations connected with the life of an Almerían artist and buildings in Cairo.

In Catlow (1971), also released in Spain as El oro de nadie, Escuela de Arte de Almería represents the grand hacienda of Mexican General Calderón. U.S. Marshal Ben Cowan, played by Richard Crenna, is taken there after helping rescue the general’s nephew Diego from an Apache attack. While recovering at the hacienda, Cowan meets and becomes attracted to the general’s daughter Christina, played by Jo Ann Pflug. General Calderón also tells him about the Mexican army’s shipment of gold, allowing Cowan to realise that the treasure Catlow intends to steal originally belonged to the Confederate States during the American Civil War. The story returns to the general’s home near the end after the gold has been recovered, with Christina preparing to accompany the wounded Cowan. The school’s arcaded courtyard and surrounding rooms provide the hacienda, while other parts of Catlow’s fictional Hermosillo were assembled from additional locations around Almería.

In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), the inner courtyard of Escuela de Arte de Almería represents the palace of the Sultan of Hatay. Walter Donovan, played by Julian Glover, Elsa Schneider, played by Alison Doody, and Colonel Vogel arrive seeking permission and military assistance to cross the Sultan’s territory while searching for the Holy Grail. The Sultan has little interest in their political arguments but is immediately fascinated by Donovan’s Rolls-Royce Phantom II. Donovan gives him the car in exchange for supplies, soldiers and the tank that subsequently pursues Indiana Jones and his father through the desert. Steven Spielberg had initially considered filming the scene in the Court of the Lions at the Alhambra in Granada, but the Escuela de Arte courtyard was ultimately selected instead. The real Rolls-Royce was brought down into the courtyard for filming; according to the school, a temporary wooden ramp failed under the weight of the vehicle and damaged several steps, which were subsequently repaired. The courtyard remains almost immediately recognisable in the finished film, with relatively little alteration needed to turn it into the Sultan’s palace in the fictional Republic of Hatay.

In El Ingenio (2011), Escuela de Arte de Almería is particularly appropriate because the short film tells the story of real Almerían caricaturist Pepe Rull, played by Rodrigo Sáenz de Heredia, who studied at the school before the Spanish Civil War. Set in 1936, the film follows Pepe and his childhood friend Anselmo, played by Antonio Hortelano, as they prepare for very different artistic and professional futures before the outbreak of war changes their lives. Pepe is preparing his first exhibition as a caricaturist, while Anselmo hopes to become a teacher. The production filmed at the real Escuela de Arte as part of its recreation of Pepe Rull’s artistic environment in Almería, connecting the historical character directly with the institution where he studied. The short film also used numerous other locations in Almería province, including Tabernas and the city’s former railway station.

In Die Akte General (2016), filmed under the working title Der General in 2015, the façade of Escuela de Arte de Almería represents a hotel in Israel. The German television drama follows Hessian Attorney General Fritz Bauer, played by Ulrich Noethen, and his efforts to bring Nazi criminals to justice, including his role in providing Israel with information that contributed to the capture of Adolf Eichmann. A parallel storyline follows young prosecutor Joachim Hell, played by David Kross, who travels to Israel during the Eichmann trial and becomes involved with representatives from both East and West German intelligence circles. Scenes connected with the Israeli portion of the story were filmed in Almería, with the entrance of the Escuela de Arte dressed as a hotel. Unlike Catlow and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which exploit the interior courtyard, Die Akte General primarily uses the exterior façade and entrance to disguise central Almería as Israel.

In Amanece (2023), the cloister of Escuela de Arte de Almería appears among the Almerían locations surrounding Alba, played by Aura Garrido, and her family. After the breakdown of a relationship, Alba returns to the place where she grew up and reunites with her sister Candela, played by Iria del Río, and their terminally ill mother Aurora, played by Isabel Ampudia. Director Juan Francisco Viruega uses locations throughout Almería as an integral part of the characters’ emotional journey, contrasting enclosed interiors with the open desert, coastline and salt flats. The historic cloister of the Escuela de Arte provides one of these interior environments, its arcades and enclosed courtyard contrasting with the expansive natural landscapes that dominate much of the film. Other locations include the Tabernas Desert, Cabo de Gata, Las Salinas and several villages and houses around the province.

In Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (2026), Escuela de Arte de Almería represents institutional buildings in Cairo during the Egyptian sections of the film. Charlie Cannon, played by Jack Reynor, and his wife Larissa, played by Laia Costa, are living in Cairo when their young daughter Katie is abducted by a mysterious woman. The distraught parents report her disappearance to the police, where they are initially treated as suspects while junior detective Dalia Zaki, played by May Calamawy, takes their claims more seriously. Eight years later, Katie is unexpectedly recovered alive from a sarcophagus after a plane crash and is taken to a Cairo hospital before being reunited with her family. For these sequences, the production used both the Escuela de Arte’s cloister and its auditorium area, dressing the spaces to represent corridors belonging to a Cairo police station and hospital. The Almería filming therefore contributes to two separate Egyptian institutions within the story rather than representing the school as one single fictional building.

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