Fuendetodos is very clear that his future lies with Goya. The Aragonese painter is its main engine of development and undoubtedly its best asset for building population. Aware of this, the Zaragoza city council will this year promote different projects around the figure of its most famous compatriot. One of the most relevant and innovative will revolve around the ‘Black Paintings’ that Goya painted on the walls of Quinta del Sordo, his home in Madrid between 1819 and 1824.. Specifically, the council will renovate an old hermitage in front of the town’s existing church and install an immersive, virtual experience of these 14 murals there.
The project, partly financed by European funds, will be similar to the initiative of the Pablo Serrano Museum in Zaragoza in late 2021 and early 2022, where a camera obscura will be installed so that the visitor can have an immersive experience. in the pictures. In this way, it is aimed to surround the viewer with the brush strokes and universe created by Goya’s 14 works, which were later transferred to canvas. Fuendetodos mayor Enrique Salueña told this newspaper, “There will be a room where projections will be made and a room where virtual reality will play the leading role,” and emphasized that the tourism attracted by Goya belongs to him. The greatest hope is to give life to people.
Importance of tourism
The town of Campo de Belchite has been dedicated for decades to reclaiming the most universal Aragonese figure, paying special attention to his birthplace (he was born there because his family home is in Zaragoza), even if it is just a coincidence. was under construction, to which he returned a short time later). It should not be forgotten that without Goya, this municipality, whose population barely reaches 100, would not be able to attract more than 20,000 visitors every year, as it did before the pandemic.
For all these reasons, the city council will continue to promote projects around his figure. In fact, efforts are ongoing to create a museum that will house the Goyesk costumes. by the municipality’s cultural association and a new tourism office.
All these projects will be partly financed by European funds reallocated after Canal Roya rejected the station union. In particular, the Fuendetodos town hall achieved 1,003,046 euros. Almost half will go to the aforementioned ‘Black Paintings’ initiativeIt will be located in the former hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Prado, an old church in very poor condition and without a roof.
“The renovation of the building with a surface of approximately 140 square meters will be carried out by the city council and European funds will be used to provide content for the project,” Salueña said.. The initiative will deliver an immersive and sensory experience using projections and new visualization technologies. In addition, a virtual reality room equipped with six 3D glasses will be installed in Quinta del Sordo to allow the visitor to become more immersed in the universe created by Goya. The budget for this room alone is 270,000 Euros.
for December
“What we want is for the town to have more incentives for tourists to keep coming,” the mayor insisted, noting that this ancient hermitage is here. It is located right next to the Church of the Assumption of Our Lady (by the way, the area where Goya was baptized). «We have already cleared all the bushes so the architects can go to work because we want the project to be inaugurated in December,” commented Salueña.
The municipality chose the former Nuestra Señora del Prado hermitage to house the new space after the privately owned building was donated to the city council. The old church, which still preserves several Gothic arches, is in a very poor state of preservation.
On the other hand, The council will also encourage the creation of a website that will host a virtual engraving museum that will bring together works belonging to the city council.
This is just an example of the path the town of Zaragoza decided to take many years ago. We are strongly committed to culture as the engine of development. Tried to promote other projects in recent yearsA huge concrete skeleton still stranded on the outskirts of Fuendetodos, with a real barrier on it, like the one designed by the Territorio Goya Society to recreate Quinta del Sordo in some of the cubes of the Museum of Contemporary Engravings. finances of city hall.
The ‘Black Paintings’ project is not the only project supported by the Fuendetodos Municipal Council around the figure of Goya. In fact, the council is working on the renovation of an old, abandoned building that will house the Goyesco Museum. Some of the suits he has produced since 2017 will be exhibited in the new location. Fuendetodos Goyesca Cultural Association, as well as the masks and big heads they created, inspired by the works of their most universal compatriots. All these elements shine with their own light at the Goya festivals celebrated by the association in September. ANDThe new museum, financed by European funds, is located close to Goya’s birthplace. Tourist Office will also be available soon (there wasn’t one until now) It is being built with its own funds and European funds. Its formation exemplifies the council’s commitment to cultural tourism. And with almost no agriculture and animal husbandry and Goya, a wind industry that creates “very few jobs”, stands as the main driver of development in this town with a population of barely a hundred.