The University of Navarra Museum honors César Ortiz-Echagüe, a " core topic " in the preservation of his father's photographic " bequest "

The University of Navarra Museum (MUN) mourns the passing, yesterday, September 27, in Madrid, of César Ortiz-Echagüe Rubio (1927–2026), a figure closely linked to the origins of the University of Navarra’s photography collection and instrumental in the preservation and transmission of the “ bequest ” of his father, the photographer and engineer José Ortiz Echagüe.

An architect by profession and later a priest, César Ortiz-Echagüe fostered the relationship between his father and the University of Navarra beginning in 1968, while he was a professor at the School of Architecture. This connection was a decisive factor in José Ortiz Echagüe’s decision to donate his work to the University of Navarra, where it was received after his death in 1980.

The collection comprised nearly 1,100 photographs—by both José Ortiz Echagüe and other photographers—1,500 paper negatives, and 28,740 negatives, as well as cameras, photography equipment laboratory, publications, and documentation. This donation gave rise to the University of Navarra Photographic Collection, the precursor to the current University of Navarra Museum Collection, where the five series that define his body of work —*Spain: Types and Costumes*, *Spain: Towns and Landscapes*, *Mystical Spain* , and *Spain: Castles and Fortresses*—are studied and preserved, along with his early photographs of North Africa. Taken as a whole, this collection constitutes a heritage of great artistic, historical, and documentary value for understanding the career of one of the great Spanish photographers of the 20th century.

“Don César played a key role in ensuring that his father’s photographic ar bequest on could be preserved as a whole and made available to the research and the knowledge,” says Jaime García del Barrio, general director of the MUN. “His initiative and commitment are part of the history of our collections and of the museum’s very origins.”

His contribution also had a personal, testimonial dimension. As the photographer’s son, he knew his father’s “ work ” firsthand and preserved numerous memories of his life and work. In 2021 , he published *José Ortiz Echagüe, in the Memory of His Son*, a book in which he compiled part of this “ report ”staff.

His latest work, * publishing house *, will be presented on October 16 at the MUN: José Ortiz Echagüe. *The Man Who Piloted the Light (and Built the SEAT 600)*, a new biography written by Navarran journalist Gabriel Pérez Gómez. That same day will mark the opening of the new “ exhibition ” at the Espacio Ortiz Echagüe—the area of the museum dedicated to showcasing his work—whose renovation was curated by students from the “ Master's Degree ” as part of the MUN’s Curatorial Program ( programs of study ). The event will also serve as a tribute to Don César. 

His grandnephew, José Seghers Ortiz-Echagüe, and his wife, Ángeles Aguilar, currently represent the photographer on the MUN Promoters’ board of trustees . Both were in Pamplona last week for the annual “ meeting ” event organized by the board of trustees, but they returned to Madrid earlier than planned upon learning that their great-uncle’s health had deteriorated. “Any event related to his father’s ‘ bequest ’ moved him deeply. He followed all the exhibitions of his work at the MUN and the traveling shows that were organized. When we went to visit him before traveling to Pamplona, and upon learning that we were coming to the MUN’s “ board of trustees ” exhibition, his face lit up again, and he was deeply pleased that we were preserving and showcasing his “ bequest,” says José Seghers Ortiz-Echagüe.

The University of Navarra Museum would like to express its gratitude to César Ortiz-Echagüe, whose initiative and commitment made it possible for a collection that originally belonged to his family to become part of the university’s heritage and to be preserved, studied, and shared with the public.

• Video Testimonial by César Ortiz-Echagüe: https://youtu.be/w_dGJ_di1i8
• Portrait of César Ortiz-Echagüe from 2018. attachment.
• Photo of representatives from the Ortiz Echagüe Association ( bequest ) at the MUN’s “ board of trustees ”: his grandnephew José Seghers Ortiz-Echagüe and his wife Ángeles Aguilar (the first two from the right). 
• Photo gallery of José Ortiz Echagüe in the MUN Collection.