The processing of the file for the purchase of works of the future Muse Rodin Santa Cruz continues thanks to the casting vote of the mayor of the capital, José Manuel Bermúdez.
The municipal plenary debated yesterday two motions presented jointly by the opposition (PSOE, UP and Cs) requesting the stoppage of the project and the call for a citizen consultation on its execution.
The absence of the first deputy mayor, Guillermo Díaz Guerra (PP) when it came to voting on the motions, forced the mayor to assert his casting vote, by tying the vote. A demonstration, according to the PSOE, that the Rodin Museum project defended by CC, does not even have the support of its government partner. A statement that the PP spokesman, Carlos Tarife, half admitted, who acknowledged that “at first” they had doubts, but that after the endorsement of the insular PP the situation was redirected.
The debate focused on the appropriateness of spending 16 million on the purchase of sculptures that “are not originals, but copies, many of which, the majority, are not even made,” said the former Socialist mayor, Patricia Hernández.
In this regard, Ramón Trujillo (UP) warned about the judicial claim that exists for the molds of Rodin’s sculptures to be freely accessible, since “if the court rules in favor of this request there will be as many Rodin sculptures as Chinese cats that move the arm.
The opposition also questioned the data from the feasibility study of the Rodin Santa Cruz Museum. “It tells us that more people are going to visit this museum than visit it in Paris,” said Hernández, to which the mayor of Heritage, Juan José Martínez, replied that “we are talking about the premium effect, since, unlike Paris, the museum will not compete with other similar ones”.
Regarding the uses of Viera and Clavijo, Rodin’s lack of connection with Santa Cruz was criticized, even pointing out that the space was dedicated to something as chicharrero as Carnival. While Matilde Zambudio (Cs), criticized the spending of 16 million, “when the cultural heritage falls apart.”
