Miguel de Cervantes died, aged 69, unknown and penniless nearly 400 years ago and on the same day in April 1616 as Shakespeare.
Now archaeologists are searching for his lost remains.
Cervantes is credited now only with creating the adventures of knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha, but also as the father of the modern novel.
He had asked to be buried within the Trinitarias convent near his home, the religious order that had helped pay a ransom to release him from slavery after he had been captured by Moorish pirates.
The convent in the centre of Madrid remains and now houses a dozen cloistered nun, the youngest of whom is 85.
But the exact place where the author was buried has been lost. The original convent went through several phases of expansion over the years.
Forensic archaeologists plan to use georadar to expose the earth beneath the floors and to probe the walls of the chapels and crypt. Should anything look likely, the scientists will excavate to find any bones.
Cervantes fled to Italy after a dual when he was 21 years old and fought as a soldier in the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571 when a Spanish-led fleet defeated Ottoman invaders off western Greece. He was shot both in the chest and left arm, leaving him with a withered hand.
“The atrophy of his left hand and the marks that would have been left on his rib cage makes his remains easily identifiable. We also know from a painting of the author that he had a hooked nose and what’s more he wrote shortly before his death that he only had six teeth left in his mouth,” explained the research leader.
The €100,000 budget is funded by Madrid City Hall which hopes that success will promote greater tourism.
