The Centro de Restauración de Documentos Gráficos de La Palma, part of the Cabildo de La Palma, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an open Heritage Conservation Day. This event, scheduled for 13 November, aims to create a meeting space for professionals, students, and culture enthusiasts.
The programme will feature presentations, an exhibition of the centre's work, and dialogue sessions to engage the public with various experiences and methods of understanding the conservation and enhancement of heritage. Miriam Perestelo, the councillor for Culture and Cultural Heritage, emphasised the importance of making this work accessible to the community, stating, “This day allows us to open the centre, showcase part of our work, and highlight the importance of preserving the documents that are part of our history.”
On the morning of 13 November, professionals from prominent cultural institutions will share their experiences and reflect on the connections between La Palma and other spaces of knowledge and heritage conservation. The programme will also include an exhibition showcasing some of the centre's interventions over the years, allowing attendees to gain insight into the often unseen efforts essential for preserving historical documents and testimonies.
In the afternoon, two tagoror sessions will be held, providing a platform for cultural professionals from the island and the wider archipelago to share their experiences in conservation, restoration, and heritage dissemination.
Since its opening in 2001, the centre has been involved in the recovery of documents from the General Insular Archive and has supported other island and municipal institutions in preserving their collections. Its work has extended to the Insular Museum, parish archives, and various cultural entities both within and outside La Palma.
Verónica Ojeda Jiménez and Manuel Cubero Cid have led this work in their respective fields, combining document restoration with training and outreach activities. Over the past 25 years, the centre has conducted more than 300 direct interventions and its professionals have participated in lectures, workshops, and academic activities at universities and training centres.
The entity's achievements have been recognised with two significant awards: the International Award from CICOP in 2021 and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 2023, a national distinction that highlighted the value of its work in documentary heritage conservation. With this event, the centre aims to share its quarter-century of labour with the public and provide a space for specialists and interested individuals to learn more about this work, exchange ideas, and connect with La Palma's documentary heritage.
