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Galicia, a Story in the World
GALICIA, A STORY IN THE WORLD CIDADE DA CULTURA DE GALICIA, 2019
Alberto Núñez Feijóo
Román Rodríguez González
PRESIDENT OF THE XUNTA DE GALICIA
COUNCILLOR FOR CULTURE AND TOURISM
The real strength of great stories resides in their capacity to explain who we are. Galicia, a story in the world invites us to discover a new way of telling our story that questions the clichés of periphery. It dismantles the myth of isolation and depicts a Galicia that is aware of its global nature; it demonstrates that from prehistory to the present time, it has engaged with the rest of the world and known how to create its opportunities.
Galicia, its story in the world marks the start of the preparations for the event that best symbolises our universality: the Xacobeo Holy Year. It is an exhibition designed to eradicate stereotyped visions and restore to us a healthy pride, the result of feeling part of a people that has played its role in great historical movements. The value of many of the pieces on show makes them worthy to take their place as part of the world heritage. They offer the finest testimony to the impact of Galicia on the world. Our thanks go to the museums, libraries and collectors who have worked with us on this project.
This project marks the start of a series of great exhibitions that are part of the Xacobeo Holy Year of 2021. Its starting point is an exhibition that places the idea of Galicia’s international projection firmly at the centre of the discourse, embracing the significance of the Camino de Santiago and the phenomenon of St James, our two most universal cultural expressions. The exhibition Galicia, a story in the world in the Centro Gaiás Museum gives us the opportunity to see artefacts with great symbolic value that are essential for the understanding our culture. Many of them have never before exhibited in Galicia. In fact, the opportunity of playing host to the Kennicott Bible, the Sawley Map, the Vatican Songbook or two copies of the Liber Sancti Jacobi reflects the trust that Galicia inspires in institutions as prestigious as the Vatican, Trinity College and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The exhibition explores the myths, histories and lives of Galicians in different eras and geographical contexts; their relations with the continent; the opening up to the Atlantic; the connection with the Americas; and many other interactions that make Galicia what it is: a territory of encounters from which our identity emerged. The different stages of the exhibition enshrine Galicia’s calling to participate in universal history and to engage in activity abroad through the organisation of stable relations; a process that will develop further our tradition of an open society. In Galicia, a story in the world we return to the past, but from a contemporary standpoint. The exhibition reminds us that we were there when the great pages of history were written. That is why the core idea of this exhibition is basically optimistic: it is the message that this story, which is our history, stretching back over thousands of years, is still missing the new and even better chapters that we the Galicians will also write.
With the exhibitions devoted to the Vindel Parchment and the painting A derradeira leición do mestre (The Teacher’s Last Lesson) we began a project that aimed to offer people the opportunity to see key works for the first time in Galicia. We are continuing to make progress along this path, convinced of the need to be aware that Galician culture transcends the geography of the region and extends across all the continents. The exhibition owes much to the capacity for communication and rigour of the curator, Manuel Gago, as well as to the scientific community and of the Galician Department of Culture, which has collaborated with the project. They offer the best guarantee that this story which describes the construction of a culture with links across the world is based on verified facts that have been analysed with a critical spirit. The information has been gathered in a catalogue that will remain as a work of reference. The effectiveness of any story must depend on the mechanisms that can make it connect with the public, such as the use of the latest languages. The use of immersion and virtual reality technologies brings the pieces to life. It enhances the capacity of this exhibition to address all publics at different levels of interpretation. The drive to tell stories is one of the most characteristic of human faculties. We need stories because through them we construct the reality in which we live. Galicia, its story in the world eradicates any possible idea of backwardness and displays a vision of a people that is open and welcoming. It has inherited a history that deserves to be told and is prepared to commit to its culture, which is one of the foundations for developing an external strategy that can allow us to achieve success in facing the challenges of the future.