• THE 'NO'. Punch of Colau al Hermitage
  • BUILDING.Toyo Ito designs the hypothetical Hermitage museum
  • The official presentation. Opportunity or speculation?

Ada Colau buried the Hermitage three weeks ago. And he relied on four technical reports to rule out the museum's branch in the Nueva Bocana of the Port of Barcelona. These municipal reports cost 42,700 euros , as admitted this morning by the deputy mayor of Culture, Joan Subirats , in the commission of Culture.

Subirats explained that the reports were entrusted to professionals of "proven solvency": the cultural project was in charge of the philosopher and former CCCB director Josep Ramoneda ; The mobility study was prepared by Intra and Ole Thorson ; the one of urbanism was signed by the professors of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) Álex Jiménez and Maria Rubert de Ventós , and the one of economic sustainability was of Xavier Cubeles and Eurocet.

The spokeswoman for Citizens in the City Council, Marilén Barceló , denounced the cost of those reports that "have only served to justify their ideology contrary to the Hermitage." Those four reports were the argument for the City Council to say a resounding no to the Hermitage, a project surrounded by controversy since 2012, when the then President Artur Mas signed an agreement with Russia for the installation of a branch.

If the municipal opposition accuses the Colau government of making a "political and ideological decision", the president of the Port of Barcelona, Mercè Conesa , asks the City Council to rethink its no and has dismantled some of its arguments in an interview in Catalunya Ràdio . For example, the risk of flooding or that the space is not suitable for that cultural use. "We have to try to reach an agreement with the City Council and I know that we are working with the technical teams so that the implementation of this equipment is as appropriate as possible," said Conesa, who was president of the Diputación de Barcelona by the PDECAT . From the Port they resist giving up the Hermitage.

The secrecy of the private society that drives the Hermitage - led by the luxury interior designer Ujo Pallarés -, the constant changes in the project (both museum and architectural, with a new surprise building by Toyo Ito ), the unrealistic numbers of visitors (the forecast was 850,000 the first year and on the increase, a figure similar to the most visited museum in Barcelona, ​​the Picasso) and the feeling of improvisation have always raised strong misgivings in the cultural sector. While some see it as an opportunity others label it as speculation. "It is a typical example of franchise culture : known names, banal project," said Ramoneda's report.

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  • Ada Colau
  • Citizens
  • Barcelona
  • Catalonia

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