Minister’s visit

Minister’s visit

ALMERIA PROJECTS: Jose Manuel Rodriguez, accompanied by local and provincial dignitaries Photo credit: Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte

JOSE MANUEL RODRIGUEZ URIBES, Minister of Culture until last Saturday’s Cabinet reshuffle, visited Almeria a day before his substitution.

Rodriguez Uribes, now succeeded by Miquel Iceta, toured different cultural projects financed with funds from the 1.5 per cent Public Works levy allocated to cultural purposes.

Speaking before his visit, Rodriguez Uribes referred to the efforts of the institutions and the world of the arts to keep culture alive “in difficult circumstances” like those of the past year.

During his lightning tour of the capital, Rodriguez Uribes visited the monument to Almeria’s victims of the Mauthausen concentration camp in the Almadrabillas park adjoining the rehabilitated Cable Ingles jetty.

The minister was also shown the Hospital Provincial, Almeria City’s only remaining 16th century building, where restoration has revealed a 37-metre coffered ceiling, the longest of its type in Spain.

Asked about the Ministry’s stance on supporting UNESCO’s World Heritage site status for the marble quarries of Macael and Los Millares, Rodriguez Uribes explained that as far as he knew, the Ministry had not yet received a request from the Junta de Andalucia.

“We shall study it lovingly,” he pledged, adding that a request from the Diputacion provincial council for collaboration of restoring the “Blood Wedding” property, Cortijo del Fraile, would be treated with equal care.

Written by

Linda Hall

Originally from the UK, Linda is based in Valenca and is a reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering local news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

Comments