Yesterday, February 14 (Valentine's Day, a very successful day, although with a halo of sadness due to what happened in Algoda last week), the Puçol School Museum experienced another very important milestone in its history, a moment that we had been waiting for six years, with a pandemic in between, as the Mayor of Elche said during his closing speech at the event. Shortly before 12:30 pm, at the Puçol facilities, the Pusol Project for Education and Culture Foundation of the Valencian Community was signed.

And I say "another" because there are many events that have marked the history of the museum during these more than fifty years: the very start of the project in the late sixties and early seventies, with the arrival of the young master Fernando Garcia Fontanet; the initiative of the newspaper "Els Escolars" (1979), a wonderful source of information on the beginnings of the museum; the official registry of the association that manages it, in 1992; the arrival of the objectors at the end of the 1990s, who gave a strong “push” to museum tasks; the expansion of the facilities, financed by the City Council and inaugurated in 2001; the recognition of UNESCO in 2009. And today, in 2022, the creation of the foundation.

This new body that will manage the museum is made up of two essential entities: the City Council of our municipality and the Puçol School Museum Traditional Culture Center Association. In reality, these are the same two institutions that have managed the museum in one way or another, but they are now coming together as a foundation to give the museum a more durable and economically efficient legal entity. Both parties contribute their respective patrons and patrons -fifteen in total-, who will govern, together with the executive director of the museum, the near future of the center.

The act that took place yesterday was attended by the patrons of the foundation, who signed their position in the constitution of this new institution before the notary Francisco José Tornel. The presence of Carlos González, mayor of Elche and patron-president of the foundation, and the councilors of Tourism, Education and Culture, also patrons, should be highlighted. The museum was filled with friends, neighbors from the area, people collaborating with the School Museum, members of the City Council... The founder of the educational-museum project, Fernando García, who received excited applause from all, could not be missing. the people that is here.

After the welcome by the presenter or speaker of the event, Javier Muñoz, to the nearly one hundred people in attendance, Rafa Martínez, director of the Puçol School Museum, spoke, extolling the tour of the museum and the educational work of his project. The notary then went on to present the objectives of the foundation and the patrons, who approached the lectern to ratify the position and receive a small detail for their involvement and the first patronage of this foundation. The day continued with the words of the president of the association, José Mora, and ended with the intervention of the mayor of Elche, whose words filled those present with great enthusiasm for this project that begins or, rather, continues.

Author: Marian Tristán, coordinator of the School Museum.