The publication The Valencian artistic heritage [The work of the Department of History of Art of the Universitat de València over the last 35 years] has been presented this morning. The book has its origin on an exhibition that started in the Castle-Palace of Alaquàs in January 2020 and that it is expected to travel around about twenty localities of the Valencian Country. It is a piece of work that shows the richness and variety of our artistic heritage in a selective way as well as announcing the teaching, investigative and spreading work deployed by the Department of History of Art of the Universitat de València, which has more than three decades of experience in specialised education, transmission and defence of the artistic heritage.

The launch ceremony has counted on the presence of the principal of the Universitat de València, M.ª Vicenta Mestre; the dean of the Faculty of Geography and History, Josep Montesinos; the vice-principal of Territorial Projection and Society, Jorge Hermosilla; the curator of the exhibition and ex-director of the Department of History of Art, Felipe Jerez; and Leopoldo Delgado, a director of Caixa Popular.

The principal, M.ª Vicenta Mestre, has highlighted that the publication gathers "the great heritage of the Universitat de València, a university that has accumulated a unique, historical and artistic heritage throughout its 520 years of history; a heritage at the service of our people". Mestre has thanked all those who have made this publication possible "because this piece of work will go down in history as a reflection of the time and work of people committed to science, knowledge and arts". 

The curator, Felipe Jerez, has underlined that about thirty teachers of the Department of History of Art have taken part in this project, which means almost the 80% of the teaching staff. "An involvement success that is not easy to achieve and in which he takes pride because of the fluency and the brotherhood and sisterhood on the cooperation since a huge part of the issues tackled has been distributed amongst colleagues who specialises in this domain of the discipline or its management; 14 women and 16 men have participated, a mixture of experience and youth, belonging to all the university teaching categories", explains the ex-director of the Department of History of Art. 

The dean, Josep Montesinos, for his part, has stressed the possibility of continuing with the Faculty's spreading work after the coronavirus pandemic. He has also pointed out that the catalogue's great value "which contributes to the knowledge and spreading amongst society of the evolution of the Valencian art from prehistory to the present day, as well as to the dissemination of the dedication of our teaching and research staff". 

Leopoldo Delgado, from Caixa Popular, has valued the opportunity that participating in this kind of projects represents for his financial institution, "a commitment to favour citizen participation and strengthen the social fabric by means of cultural, social and educational development projects".