La Diputació de València has launched a plan to help museums in the municipalities affected by DANA to rescue damaged objects. The initiative, which is part of the Cultural Property Restoration delegation of the Cooperation area, consists of “quantifying the damage caused by the flood to the collections and museums to then proceed with their restoration,” explains the first vice president and person in charge of Cooperation, Natàlia Enguix.
Enguix herself highlights that “once the basic needs have been met in a catastrophe like the one we are suffering, we also have the obligation to think about the moral impact that the loss of their identity references, those material representations embodied in objects, entails for local communities. or images that have great value for the residents of our regions.” The Museum of the Rajoleria of Paiporta and the Museum of the Aldaia Fan are the most punished along with the Museum of the Festival of Algemesí.
To carry out the restoration project of damaged movable heritage, the Provincial Council's technicians have based themselves on the list of municipalities affected by the Generalitat's DANA, consulting one by one to find out the degree of impact on the pieces and collections. After completing the field work to inventory the incidents, the Cultural Property Restoration delegation will carry out a global quantification of the years and will issue an investment proposal to restore the heritage.
Natàlia Enguix points out that the initiative “is an extraordinary action in response to an unexpected situation, and therefore we will act in those municipalities that have declared their cultural assets and that have informed us that they have been damaged by DANA.” The vice president advances that "in a second phase the intention is to carry out the same procedure with real estate, since there are several municipalities that have already reported damage to buildings and constructions of high heritage value."
L’ETNO joins the project
In parallel to the actions of the Cooperation area, the Culture area directed by Paco Teruel has wanted to join the initiative through the network of ethnological museums coordinated by L'ETNO. In this way, the technicians of the Diputación museum have launched a plan to offer help and technical support to the 32 museums that make up the Etnoxarxa. “Our technicians have contacted ethnological museums to monitor heritage losses that have been very significant,” says Teruel.
