On the occasion of the International Museum Day on May 18th, a good friend and great scholar in these heritage issues and many more, Nérido Pérez Terry, referred to a phrase said by someone very authoritative such as María Mercedes García Santana, teacher and dean of Museologists.
I could not hold back myself and today I share with you this phrase: “… The museum is not made by one person, we are all involved on it …” I immediately thought of those large or small institutions that treasure an infinity of values from all aspects, those that sometimes even in apartments of a building, in intricate villages keep many or few; but valuable pieces that have been preserved with such care over time.
We are all part of it
The gratitude also goes to the people who decided to donate them for their better preservation, so that the right hands that carefully studied this matter, necessary to preserve the values of a community, a people, a country would ensure its conservation.
From my point of view
Museums have always left a deep mark on me and have interested me too much, since the knowledge they transmit to us is indisputably incalculable. They take us back to past times of which we have not had experiences.
Our province is fortunate, because we have a great history that is clearly displayed in the museums that we have and proudly show.
Who has not felt when visiting the Ignacio Agramonte Provincial Museum the presence of those men who were prisoners one day in one of its premises and then transferred to what we now know as Martyrs Avenue, to the current Square that bears the name “Joaquín de Agüero”, to be executed on August 12nd, 1851 and then they became heroes of independence? Or who has not noticed the nobility and value of our Mayor when seeing his belongings in his Birthplace. There will be few who have not perceived the smell of the flowers that one day that same man, the Bayardo, gave to his beloved girlfriend, where his love arose in the mansion of his beautiful Amalia…
And so I could give many examples, because when you continue to name places and locations of indisputable value in our city, you realize that perhaps, even in a simple street or house, there may be an anecdote to tell and even an important footprint to protect.
A unique museum
And if we talk about treasuring wealth, we cannot forget to mention our General Cemetery, an open-air museum, as it is usually called and which fortunately already exhibits another face today, because thanks to the intervention of the Office of the Historian with its magnificent project, its appearance changes day by day to become the true and just place where so many children of this land of Agramonte rest who left an imperishable legacy to current and future generations.
But those places exist because we all exist, that is why I fully affirm what the Mistress of Museologists said and I urge you to contribute with our donations so that they continue to exist and preserve the history, culture and idiosyncrasy of who we are.
Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García
