The Centro will be able to accommodate approximately 50,000 visitors per year, positioning it as the fourth most visited museum in the city. The City Council of València presents the museography of the future Interpretation Center of the Holy Chalice, designed by renowned designer Eusebio López and architect Luis Martín. It will have a total of 16 spaces, distributed on different levels, and can host a maximum of 50,000 visitors per year. This space aims to become a point of attraction and the fourth most visited municipal museum managed by the Historical Heritage Service. The mayor emphasizes that the Holy Chalice is «one of the most studied and cherished relics of Christianity, but also one of our main symbols of identity» and highlights culture as «the keystone of the city’s strategy.» Additionally, Catalá announces that the City Council will request the declaration of an event of exceptional public interest for this third Jubilee Year.
«Hearing about the Holy Chalice is talking about one of the most studied and cherished relics of Christianity, but also about one of our main symbols of identity,» said the mayor of València, María José Catalá, during the presentation of the museography of the future Interpretation Center of the Holy Chalice in front of a wide representation of the world of culture, the Cathedral Chapter, the Councilor of Culture, José Luis Moreno, members of the Corporation, and various entities linked to the worship and devotion to the holy relic.
The event, held at the Crystal Hall of the València City Council, was attended by the project author, designer Eusebio López; the person in charge of its architectural adaptation, architect Luis Martín; the Archbishop of València, Monseñor Enrique Benavent; and the regional secretary of Culture, Pilar Tébar.
After presenting the museological project of the future interpretation center last February, directed and coordinated by the prestigious historian Miguel Navarro Sorní, the municipal government now reveals the design and museographic resources with which these contents will be exhibited.
In her speech, Catalá, after noting that the project has a budget of over three million euros and is «the most rigorous, ambitious, and technologically advanced possible,» stated that they do not want «a franchise city with projects that could be in València or any city in the world. We want projects that can only be in València, and we want culture to be the keystone of the city’s strategy because, indeed, València is a very culturally rich city. So rich that we can redirect all our tourist capacity, all our urban design, and all our city model towards a cultural proposal.»
In this sense, the mayor announced the signing of an agreement with the Iberdrola Foundation to illuminate «not only the Miguelete but the entire Cathedral, so the Clockmaker’s House and the València Cathedral will receive extra care and quality.» She also added that in the fall, «we will have the third Jubilee Year, and we want it to be a reference event nationally and internationally, which is why we will request its declaration as an event of exceptional public interest.»
As explained by the first councilor, the future Interpretation Center of the Holy Chalice «will not be a typical museum, but on the contrary, it will be a place where history will become emotion, where faith will be united with culture, and where tradition will dialogue with technological innovation, offering the population and visitors, through an immersive proposal, a unique and quality experience around the history of the Holy Chalice and its decisive influence on Western culture. A journey designed to continue and culminate in front of the relic itself, in the chapel where it is venerated and guarded, to appreciate it in all its dimension.»
Furthermore, María José Catalá indicated that this project «is a future opportunity that will mark a before and after in the dissemination of our cultural heritage. But it is also an act of self-esteem towards our city and towards our own history, and it means, in a way, starting to settle a debt that València had with itself.»
On the other hand, Archbishop of València, Enrique Benavent, expressed «the joy of the Archdiocese and the Metropolitan Chapter of the Cathedral for the coincidence of the realization of this project with the Jubilee Year of the Holy Chalice that will begin next October in the Holy Cathedral Church.»
For Monseñor Benavent, «the future interpretation center represents the commitment of the municipal government, with the mayor at its head, to strengthen the ties between both institutions, the Archdiocese and the City Council, so that the Holy Chalice becomes a religious, cultural, and artistic reference of international scope that can attract pilgrims and visitors from all over the world.» The Archbishop also highlighted «the spatial connection between the new museum space and the València Cathedral, tangibly expressing the need for faith to be reasoned and for the signs of faith to be understood and welcomed with historical rigor and from coherent historical postulates.»
Additionally, the regional secretary of Culture, Pilar Tébar, conveyed the support of the Valencian Government to the future Interpretation Center of the Holy Chalice, «a space located in the heart of the city that will allow future generations not only to discover an exceptional piece but also to better understand who we are and what paths we want to travel together.»
«The Holy Chalice – continued Tébar – as a shared symbol, speaks to us of a history of encounter. Therefore, the future interpretation center will not only be a place of dissemination but
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