The passionate defense of The Ages of Man as a Castilian and Leonese cultural project that should not leave the regional borders, carried out a few weeks ago by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Gonzalo Santonja, during his appearance in the legislature, on account of his presence until December in Plasencia (Extremadura), yesterday had harsh words in response from her counterpart from Extremadura, the councilor Nuria Flores Redondo, who called Santonja's statements "unfortunate" in Salamanca, while declaring herself surprised by them for only one week after the same counselor spoke during the inauguration of the exhibition of "tearing down borders between autonomous communities".
"Wishing the best of success to the Ages of Man in Plasencia, let us be clear that it is an initiative that will hardly leave the Community again," the Castilian and Leonese counselor remarked in parliamentary headquarters, in one of the veiled attacks launched during his intervention to the previous team of the Ministry.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Plasencia, Fernando Pizarro García-Polo, valued, in statements collected by Ical, the merits of the municipality, as well as its "tenacity", recalling that they have been preparing for the arrival of the macro-exhibition for more than a decade . In addition, the first mayor was convinced that the attraction of tourists to Plasencia will also have repercussions on neighboring communities: «I think that The Ages are going to have a very important impact on Castilla y León. We are going to be a bridge so that many people from the south can go to the community in the north. And that is our vocation, of mutual enrichment». An idea that the councilor also insisted on, who again addressed Santonja to ask him to appreciate the "excellent relationship" between the presidents of both communities, Guillermo Fernández Vara and Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, "despite being from different political sign.
"Perhaps this is what the public is asking for, that we stop fighting now, and more so in a project as important as this one, since what happens in one place has repercussions in another territory," he concluded.
The presentation held yesterday in Salamanca had the objective of detailing that Castilla y León contributes more than thirty works of sacred art to the recently inaugurated XXVI Edition of The Ages of Man. In addition, the Community lends oil paintings, drawings, carvings, sculptures, manuscripts from the 16th century, publications and books, among which the historical ones written by the conqueror Hernán Cortés, the History of New Spain or The Brief Account of the Destruction of las Indias, published in 1552, by the Spanish Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, the main defender of the indigenous people in America during the 16th century, among others.
