INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, MUSEUMS AND HERITAGE MANAGEMENT IN 19TH CENTURY SPAIN
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 01/10/2020

In the second half of the 19th century networking among scholars from several countries influenced and shaped the way some archaeological collections and museums were then newly created and managed. In this communication we aim to show that the Spanish academia was no exception to this trend and we will do it through two case studies which have as common link the figure of the historian Juan Facundo Riaño (1829-1901).
More specifically, we will take as starting point two letters Riaño sent to scholars linked then to the field of ancient Near Eastern studies. First, we will concentrate on a letter, preserved at the British Library (London), sent by Riaño to Austen Henry Layard (1817- 1894). Second, we will discuss another letter, preserved at the Bodleian Libraries (Oxford), the Spanish scholar sent to Archibald Henry Sayce (1845-1933). These letters will allow us to see that the relationships among these scholars had an influence in the way the collections of two Spanish museums were managed, namely the Museo de Reproducciones Artísticas (at that time in Madrid, now in Valladolid) and the collection of the Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid). Indeed, we defend that approaching these twoletters and the case studies of these two museums will allow us to see how cooperation about scholars was a basic tool then, as it is now, to enrich cultural management.


Author(s): Garcia-Ventura, Agnes (IPOA, Universitat de Barcelona) - Vidal, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)