The first Hispanic-Jewish Museum in Spain will soon be complete. The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, announced Monday during an official trip to Poland that the cultural center, whose construction was announced in June last year, is soon to be finalized in Madrid.
The museum's main objective will be to to value "the Hispanic-Jewish legacy and its role and its political and cultural influence in the world," explained Díaz Ayuso at the Conference of the European Jewish Association (EJA) held at Auschwitz:
According to Díaz Ayuso, the headquarters of the Hispanic-Jewish Museum will be located in the old metropolitan electrical substation in Madrid's Salamanca neighborhood. Built by architect Antonio Palacios, Metro de Madrid (the city's subway system) rented the space for a period of 30 years to the Hispanic-Jewish Foundation(*Pablo Kleinman, COO of Voz Media is second vice-president of the Hispanic-Jewish Foundation), which assured that the cultural center will aim "to unearth the common history between the Jewish people and 600 million Spanish speakers, bringing their shared values to light."
Madrid, home to the Hispanic-Jewish Museum
Isabel Díaz Ayuso also alluded to this goal. During her appearance, the president of the Community of Madrid highlighted the "open, inclusive and popular" lifestyle that characterizes the region, ensuring that Madrid is "a true crossroads where it does not matter where you come from, or what God you pray to, or how much money you have" and that, therefore, there is no better place for the Hispanic-Jewish Museum.
"Being aware of our legacy, we have acted," said Díaz Ayuso minutes before thanking the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, located in Warsaw, for the help it provided to the Community of Madrid "as well as the very important advice and experience" for the establishment of the cultural center. Díaz Ayuso highlighted that this help was greatly appreciated ahead of the construction of the museum. The grand opening has not yet been announced, but it is known that it will feature the Paul Dahan Collection and works of art donated by the Backal Gojman family to the archives of the Inquisition and Judaica of Latin America.
