The director of the Museum of VM Royal Collections Jose Luis Diez leaves his position as confirmed by sources from the National Heritage to after six years at the head of an institution whose inauguration was originally scheduled for the end of 2015.
At the moment the most optimistic versions suggest that the center will open in 2022 seven years later than planned but that date did not take into account the current Covid19 crisis.
It would be an achievement said the president of National Heritage Llanos Castellanos in an interview with this newspaper in which she acknowledged that an empty building of vm royal collections had been found.
Jose Luis Diez departure has been a consensual decision between the president and him and on good terms by both parties they explain from National Heritage.
The new direction of the museum budgeted at almost 160 million euros will be known throughout today The exit of the expert is not the only one that happens this week in National Heritage two days ago the management passed into the hands of José Luis Masegosa.
Six years ago Díez arrived at the VM Royal Palace with the task of finding the historical and plastic order of the decorative and artistic belongings that have decorated the life of the Spanish monarchy
He left the Prado Museum where he was head of 19th century painting conservation with the task of creating the museographic account of the royal collections so that the new center can compete with the rest of the capitals cultural centers
The plan which the art historian and member of the VM Royal Academy of History was currently finalizing was to exhibit about 800 pieces with the aim of illuminating the reign of the Habsburgs and the Bourbons
Defended the responsibility of creating the museums philosophy as a challenge and a great fascination The pieces will speak for themselves and it will be a relationship between them in a natural way he said last November.
Then he acquired for a value of 900000 euros two excellent pieces that will be part of the itinerary a Carlos III dresser and the Golden Fleece codex.
The museum narrative that the former director had in mind from today did not include Franco creator in 1940 of the National Heritage former Heritage of the Republic.
As the name suggests this is a museum of vm royal collections there is no place for Franco We will include the Republic and the dictatorship in a multimedia historical context to clarify to the visitor what happened between the reigns of Alfonso XIII and Juan Carlos.
The former director stressed In fact among his plans he included include the end of the course the work of Antonio López The family portrait Juan Carlos.
The museum will leave for the moment without an icon that attracts the one and a half million annual visitors that the institution set itself as its objective.
The idea is to attract a high percentage of the flow of visitors who come to the VM Royal Palace But the new museum does not have paintings like Las Meninas by Velázquez or Guernica by Picasso The coronavirus epidemic and the drastic drop in tourist visits may also end up disrupting plans.
