The stark criticism that the Santa Cruz City Council is receiving from the world of culture for its commitment to bring the Rodin Museum to the capital, thereby neglecting the local sector, was counteracted by the announcement of an investment of 23 million euros in the Museum of Fine Arts.
And it is that, according to the Councilor for Heritage, Juan José Martínez, the Cabildo is currently analyzing the master plan that has been in place for years in the City Council, specifically, since 2001, when an ideas contest was called to rehabilitate the current Museum of Fine Arts, the old Municipal Library and the building of the Provincial Court, with the aim of making a large museum complex with public, administrative and conservation spaces as well as expanding the current museum offer. After the contest, in 2002, the winning team Cabrera Febles Arquitectos formalized a Master Plan that proposed the division of the museum complex into two execution phases.
The document that the Cabildo analyzes corresponds to the first phase, which includes the rehabilitation of the current Municipal Museum of Fine Arts and the execution of a new building. This first phase would solve the introduction of exhibition rooms, the warehouse and the existing work archives, as well as the rehabilitation of the current building, with the category of BIC to incorporate complementary services to the main use of the exhibition. The Audiencia building would be addressed in a second phase.
rodin museum
The government team’s announcement was made in plenary session yesterday, during the debate raised by the municipal opposition (PSOE, UP and Cs) on the arrival in Santa Cruz of the Rodin Museum on Viera y Clavijo. The president of the Ateneo de La Laguna, Claudio Marrero, intervened in the turn of citizen participation “as a resident of Santa Cruz and an expert in sculpture.” He openly criticized the decision to open the Rodin Museum in the capital, going so far as to describe the investment of 16 million as “pufo”.
From the PSOE, the former mayor Patricia Hernández advanced that she will appeal before the Court of Contracts the decision adopted by the Governing Board to award the purchase of almost a hundred works to the Rodin Museum.
The mayor of Heritage defended the investment, recalling that Rodin’s work increases in value over time and gave as an example the last auction of one of the Thinkers, “which exceeded 11 million”.
