This month of November it’s the 80th anniversary of the decision of the democratic government of the Second Republic to move, in the middle of the war, from Madrid, besieged by Franco’s troops, to Valencia. Eight decades after Valencia became the capital city of the Republic, situation which was extended during 11 months, the Universitat of València recreates and discovers all the aspects of that city in the exhibition “Everything is to be done. València capital city of the Republic (1936-1937)”, that will be available to be seen until the 19 February.
During the next months the UV dedicates a wide cultural programme to this anniversary. The programme can be consulted here: http://links.uv.es/kSYnVU1
On Monday, it took place the press conference of this project at La Nau, with the attendance of the vice-principal for Culture and Equality, Antonio Ariño, and the commissioners of the exhibition, professors of the UV: Mireia Ferrer Álvarez, Javier Navarro Navarro and Toni Morant i Ariño.
According to the vice-principal for Culture, Antonio Ariño, “two years ago, the principal shown the important point in organizing this exhibition of a period when the UV also had a leading role”, and he has reminded that La Nau was the headquarter of the sections of the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts and also that from September 1936 the direction of the University Library was headed by María Moliner. The end of the war and Franco’s victory were dramatic for the Universitat, with the exile of its Principal, the Full University Professor Josep Puche, and the shooting in May 1941 of the Full University Professor of Medicine, Joan Peset Aleixandre, who was also Principal of the University from 1932 to 1934.
“The singularity of this exhibition is that we present all aspects of life in València during this period. Not only the cultural commotion, which is probably the most known feature, but also how people use to live in an anonymous way in the city, something that normally does not appear in History books”, says Toni Morant, professor of the Department for Contemporary History of the institution.
Javier Navarro, professor of the same department, highlights how Valencia became the host city for refugees from all over Spain, a less known aspect, and he also blows up the stereotype of “Levante feliz” (Happy Levante), used by the Madrid press to define the situation of the city. Furthermore, the war arrived full with severity to the city, in the form of bombings and an increasing food shortage. All these points can be seen in the exhibition that is in the biggest room of La Nau, the Academia Room.
Among more than 450 exhibited objects, photography, audio-visual aids with news programme of the period and different documentation like ration books, bombing draws made by children of that time, posters... It has even been recreated a large sized plan of Valencia in war, in which 85 streets renamed following the antifascist and revolutionary imaginary, together with 80 places of special meaning from the political, cultural and daily point of view can be seen. In this way, the current Gran Vía Marqués del Turia was renamed as Gran Vía Buenaventura Durruti, the street Isabel la Católica became Margarita Nelken and the current Avenida de Blasco Ibáñez received the name of Avenida de la Unión Soviética. During this time, the current Cultural Centre La Nau hosted part of the sections of the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.
According to Mireia Ferrer Álvarez, professor of History of Art of the UV, “the exhibition pretends to establish a link of union among generations that still keep a direct link with civil war. They can be the sons of those who personally lived the armed conflict or their grandchildren and those to whom the oral history told by their families was and still is an umbilical cord, and those new generations to whom the civil war is just a chapter read in a textbook or listened from afar.”
The exhibition takes interest in Valencia in war to create a space to locate the public of today in the reality of yesterday. The exhibition is structured in eight sections that show the noticeable changes of the city: the political prominence, women and the war, daily life in Valencia, health and safety, art and visual culture, cultural activity, education and the University.
The section of political prominence reflects the institutional role taken by Valencia. The city became the headquarter of the legitimate Government of the Second Republic and its Courts. These, for instance, were located at the City Council’s building and held plenary sessions in the municipal seat and also in la Lonja. Moreover, the city host diverse ministries and the group of sections of the central administration.
The exhibition also displays the political and social prominence of women in this period, so they joined the labour unions CNT and UGT, or their arrival to the government. Thus, for the first time in our history, a woman, the Catalan Federica Montseny, was named minister and hold the Minister of Health and Social Assistance in the government headed by the socialist Largo Caballero.
Due to the war, the UV usual teaching activity was hampered – and paralysed in a great measure–, with mobilised students and teachers devoted to special services. During the academic year 1936-1937, academic activities were cancelled and professors from other Spanish universities were designated.
Education was a specially highlighted area of the republican institutions and organisations. The Ministry, located in Valencia, increased the number of school and literacy programmes, thanks to a surprising increase of the budget of more than a 40%, unusual data for being in war.
Two sections are devoted to the cultural section: visual art and culture, and cultural activity in general. Here is reflected the intense cultural labour developed in Valencia. This exhibition approaches to the public chapters such as the history of the four antifascist Fallas that covered the gape by the elimination of the festivity in 1937, the arrival of the Spanish artistic heritage to the Colegio del Patriarca and to the Torres de Serranos, or the Second International Congress of Writers for the Defence of Culture, that gathered in the city intellectuals such as André Malraux, Tristan Tzara, Octavio Paz, Alejo Carpentier or Pablo Neruda, among others.
The exhibition, named “Everything is to be done”, alludes to the words pronounced by the artist and intellectual Rafael Pérez Contel, has been produced by the Office of the vice-principal for Culture of the UV, with the collaboration of the city council of Valencia, Culturarts-IVAC, the Graphic File of ABC and different libraries, files and newspaper archives, the Faculty of Geography and History of the UV and the General Foundation of the UV, among other institutions.
Last update: 8 de november de 2016 08:00.
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