Luck has combined Benidorm’s tourist past with that of Torremolinos and El Ejido. The work of Wim Kuipers, a Dutch businessman and patron, to save the historical heritage of both Andalusian municipalities led to a unique finding about the history of the tourism capital: How was Benidorm seen through the eyes of a British tourist in the 60s?. A real find to continue expanding the municipality’s collection of documentaries on how tourism development began.
Kuipers has worked for over four decades to save the historical heritage of these two cities, Torremolinos and El Ejido. In his eagerness to document the tourism history of both municipalities, he picked up an album containing: Up to 86 photos of a British family vacation in the Spanish Mediterranean. Among the pages of the album, he found several pages of pictures taken in Benidorm during a time we were “going out”. Between 1959 and 1962“, as explained by Historic Heritage Councilor Ana Pellicer.
The Dutch businessman was “fascinated” by the photos that fate accidentally gave him. In them you can see some personal natures and other sights and places in Benidorm. “We know that this The English family stayed at the Rosaleda hotel and toured the municipal food market during their stay. He settled on Martínez Oriola and Costera del Barco streets, enjoyed bathing in the Poniente beach, walked along the streets of Tomás Ortuño and Carreró dels Gats and visited the port.”
Wim Kuipers contacted “Our Archive”, deciding that they should not be forgotten. present this material in an irrelevant way; A generous gesture that stems from your duty to preserve heritage, for which we are immensely grateful”.
With them, the Benidorm Municipal Archive continues to increase its photographic collection. The collection consists of 86 black and white photographs taken by a British tourist in the early years of the city’s tourism development. Pellicer noted that this collection “provides unpublished images” of Benidorm that “contribute to witnessing the development of our city over the past decades and rescuing our recent past”. But “besides its undoubted informative value, this donation contains a history of luck and sacrifice, Wim Kuipers is the protagonist and deserves to be told”.
This Kuipers donation is not the first donation of significant historical value. It was added to the one made at the end of 2021 by German citizen Maximiliam Greeven.Giving the City Council video footage of family holidays in Benidorm in the late 50’s; and also the enormous legacy inherited Cristina Boissie. Pellicer noted that all these funds “contribute to the increase of documents and material relating to Benidorm of the last century, and with it the study and analysis of the evolution of our city, which has now become a tourist destination.”
The material donated by Wim Kuipers is currently available for researchers to consult, and “in the near future, New management and consultation program for our archive, currently under implementation.
Source: Informacion
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