14 May 2014

Conferences

IMAGES OF CARLISM

Museum of Carlism (Estella): conservation, documentation and dissemination of historical heritage

D. Ignacio Urricelqui Pacho.
Museum of Carlism

The Museum of Carlism, located on La Rúa Street in Estella, is a cultural infrastructure of the Government of Navarre whose mission statement is the history of Carlism in Navarre and Spain in the context of the history of the 19th and 20th centuries, understood as a counter-revolutionary process comparable to others in Europe and the world, through the conservation, exhibition and research of its collections.

Its origins date back to the 1990s, and more especially to 1997, when the Parliament of Navarre unanimously agreed to urge the Government of Navarre to put in place the necessary means to recover material of historical value related to Carlism, creating a museum and a center of programs of study on topic. The year 2000 was decisive for this purpose because, on the one hand, the City Council of Estella ceded to the Government of Navarre the use of the Governor's Palace and, on the other hand, the Carlist Party ceded to the Government of Navarre an important collection of objects from its historical heritage on indefinite deposit. During the 2000s, the building was refurbished and the Museum of Carlism was inaugurated on March 23, 2010.

The Museum of Carlism bases its activity on its exhibitions, on the programming of activities, on the management of a documentation center on Carlism, and on the tasks of any museum institution with respect to its collections (conservation, documentation, research and diffusion). To carry out these tasks it has two technicians, one from Museums and the other from Archives.

Due to the characteristics of its subject matter and collections, the Museum of Carlism can be defined as a museum of history and, as such, it is a complex institution given the variety of its collections and the social and political implications of its mission statement. On the other hand, given its specific location, it also acts as an "area museum" related to the needs of its immediate surroundings.

Like all museums, the Museum of Carlism has its own collection, the fundamental axis around which all the institution's activities, both cultural and recreational, revolve. This collection is made up of cultural assets of two types: museographic and bibliographic-documentary, which are exhibited in the permanent exhibition , or deposited in the storeroom or in the Museum's Documentation Center. These assets are of diverse nature (historical, artistic, bibliographic and documentary, ethnological) and are related to Carlism or to its historical, political and social context. The means of income of these funds are equally varied, emphasizing the donations and the deposits of both institutions and individuals.

With respect to its exhibition offer, the Museum of Carlism offers two permanent exhibitions and annually programs a temporary sample . The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Carlism is dedicated to the history of this movement from the first third of the 19th century until 1939 and is structured around the following blocks: "Carlism as a historical movement", "the crisis of the Ancien Régime and the training of Carlism", "the Carlist wars", "Carlism between centuries" and "the Second Republic and the Civil War". In support of the visit there are explanatory panels and interactive equipment.
 

exhibition permanent exhibition of the Museum of Carlism (Estella)
 

Along with this permanent exhibition should be mentioned another referring to the history of the building, built between 1608 and 1613 by Juan de Echávarri y Larráin, a person of influence linked to the Court of Philip III. This exhibition, located in the basement space and formed with explanatory panels, complements the visit and enjoyment of the building, which is integrated into the rich palatial architecture of the historic center of Estella.

Within the programming of the Museum of Carlism highlights its temporary exhibition . Between 2010 and 2014 a total of four have been held. The last one, with the degree scroll Comprometidos con la Historia. Donations and deposits in the Museum of Carlism, seeks to highlight the generosity of donors and depositors who give away objects they own so that, through the museum, they can be known, studied and appreciated by society. The sample will remain open from April 15, 2014 to February 15, 2015.

As part of its cultural and recreational offerings, the Museum of Carlism schedules guided tours of its permanent exhibition and, around the temporary exhibitions, organizes guided tours, storytelling sessions, lecture series, etc. On the occasion of International Book Day (April 23), International Museum Day (May 18) and International Tourism Day (September 27), it offers various free access and participatory activities such as conferences, guided tours, concerts, historical re-enactments, etc.

Likewise, as a cultural infrastructure, the Museum of Carlism collaborates with different institutions, developing its public service mission statement and its accessibility to society.

accredited specialization Finally, Library Services and the Documentation Center, conceived as one of the fundamental pillars of the Museum's structure. From it, references and materials for the research and study of Carlism are offered. Since 2012, the Government of Navarra convenes the financial aid for the research on Carlism to finance a project of research on Carlism or linked to it.