The Canticle Group Library It breaks a record of users and is now the most used in the entire Andalusian region. Meanwhile, the Archeological Museum is preparing to begin renovation work on its original headquarters at the end of the year, … the Palace of the Páez de Castillejo. Córdoba culture is paying off its debts, even if extremely slowly, but it still has a first-level pending issue: the Provincial Museum of Fine Arts.
Located in the historic Hospital de la Caridad, in Plaza del Potro, it became too small decades ago – in the 70s there was already talk about it in the press – and it was concluded that a new location had to be found and a new one built. new headquarters. came to be in budgets in the years of Carmen Calvo as a minister, but not one of the euros promised by the governments of the time was ever executed for that project. This despite the fact that in the year 2009 Almost three million euros were allocated to it.
«The museum plan has been in place since 2011 and was sent from the Ministry of Culture, so the Ministry must have it»
Fuensanta Garcia
Former museum director
The director of the Fine Arts at that time, Fuensanta García, remembers “that in the summer of 2011 the project that we carried out in the Museum and the museographic plan were sent to the Ministry by the Junta de Andalucía”, which was designed for a site that at that time offered by the City Council in the surroundings of La Calahorra. Nothing was ever executed there and in the last legislatures the Ministry’s response has always been the same: explaining that it was not a priority for the department and leaving it out of the ministerial budgets time after time. For almost 15 years it has not even appeared in the general accounts of the state as an investment to be made.
«We are in the best moment to face this legacy after the one left by Fuensanta García and with a young and dynamic director»
Miguel Gomez Losada
Painter
The last response from the Government was even more worrying, since at the beginning of 2023 it explained that it did not feel competent to determine what needs the site given by the Córdoba City Council for the new museum should have, something strange considering that in the The museum plan that was drawn up 13 years ago must be on file for this project. What the Government was doing with this strategic move was to buy time and pass the matter on to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports, which is the manager of the space as it is a competence ceded to the autonomies.
That is to say, in one way or another there are three administrations involved, which complicates the matter. For now, it is as unlikely that the Government will once again demand a needs plan from the Board to begin the procedure – or an update of the existing one – as it is that the three parties will sit down at a table to analyze the situation. Nobody seems to be in a hurry with this matter and nobody seems to want to lead the initiative even though, logically and once the investments of the Library and the Archaeological Center are concluded, it must be the next great cultural commitment of the central government in the city.
The artists of Córdoba, however, show their regret for the situation suffered by a space that is fundamental for the promotion of the plastic arts. Proof of this is, for example, the opinion of one of the deans of Cordoba painting, Antonio Bujalancewho often laments that “today it is almost impossible to see works from my generation or the previous one in the city, which shows that a proper Fine Arts is totally necessary.”
«It is very difficult to see a work from my generation or the previous generation in Córdoba, so it is necessary»
As the famous sculptor also explains Jose Manuel Belmonte, “Córdoba is one of the provinces with the greatest prominence in the history of Spanish painting and sculpture, which has caused the Fine Arts to have a large collection that has reached its collections through different means.” The problem, he explains, “is that what is exhibited today is only a very small part, which prevents the people of Córdoba from being aware of this great history that has been built with great artists of the past and also current ones.”
Belmonte considers that what this neglect causes “is that the plastic arts of Córdoba live in a situation of inferiority compared to other disciplines, when the tradition of our land in this field accumulates centuries of history and great names in almost all periods.” “Building a Museum of Fine Arts is paying off a debt with our own history,” he concludes.
The painter Miguel Gomez Losada He explains that for contemporary art programs there are more active agents than Fine Arts and it is not his mission, but he does consider the museum key to disseminate the artistic history of a territory and to preserve the various links. «Now, for example, there is a generation immediately preceding the one we have, that of Rafael Orti, Marcial Gómez, López Obrero and Pedro Bueno, whose legacy is not penetrating society, so there is work that the Fine Arts should do if it had an adequate space and budget.
«It is unthinkable that the majority of our museum’s collections are kept in a warehouse»
Clara Gomez Campos
Artist and teacher
Gómez Losada also remembers the need to have an adequate temporary exhibition room – the current one is a small hallway – and to be able to hold exhibitions that establish games between different artists. In any case, the artist believes “that we are in the best moment for this, with the great work that Fuensanta García left behind and with a young and dynamic director very suitable to coordinate this process of change.”
The artist and teacher Clara Gomez Campos For his part, he explains that “the best way to make the world of art and culture accessible to the youngest and not so young is by investing in public spaces such as the Museum of Fine Arts.” “If we do not conceive a city without an Archaeological Museum, which preserves and disseminates our historical past, it is also unthinkable that the majority of the funds of our Museum of Fine Arts are ‘underground’ in a warehouse.”
The creator, member of the Algazara group, fears that if action is not taken quickly “it is possible that new generations will become disconnected from our artistic past and will not arouse interest since the space where it is shown has not been renovated for decades.” “By making culture accessible, we ensure that the past is not forgotten, the present is enjoyed, and the future is enriched,” he concludes.
«The problem it suffers prevents us from Cordoba from being aware of the importance that our land has had in the history of art»
Jose Manuel Belmonte
Sculptor
Finally, also the painter José Luis Muñoz joins this historic demand. “It is clear that exposing the collections is essential, but it is also important that historical and contemporary art can dialogue with each other if an appropriate exhibition policy is followed.” The artist concludes by pointing out that it is also important for the contemporary to be located in the complete account of the history of Cordoban art and thus be “an attraction for tourism and an engine of dissemination.”
In summary, everyone agrees that Fine Arts is the pending subject, the project that must ensure that Córdoba understands the importance it has had throughout the centuries in the world of art and especially in peak periods such as the Silver Age or the Golden Age and that also serves to allow the past to dialogue with the present.
