Iceta plans to build a House of Poetry in Velintonia to protect Aleixandre's legacy

After several months in which the Minister of Culture has avoided clarifying his plans regarding the future of Velintonia and the Vicente Aleixandre archive, Miquel Iceta finally revealed this Wednesday that at the July 4 meeting to which he has called the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council will try to reach an agreement that jointly addresses both fronts.

Iceta plans to build a House of Poetry in Velintonia to protect Aleixandre's legacy

After several months in which the Minister of Culture has avoided clarifying his plans regarding the future of Velintonia and the Vicente Aleixandre archive, Miquel Iceta finally revealed this Wednesday that at the July 4 meeting to which he has called the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council will try to reach an agreement that jointly addresses both fronts. "We cannot imagine a solution that does not contemplate these two elements together," said the head of Culture. On the 4th we have an appointment with Velintonia and with Aleixandre's archive, and I hope that from there a proposal will emerge that can satisfy the legitimate claim of having a House of Poetry, and that one of the four who are Nobel Prize winners for literature [he forgot one, since Spain has five] have institutional recognition and care for his legacy».

Iceta avoided the main obstacle that the administrations face, and that is that Aleixandre's house, for which the Government offered 1.9 million 15 years ago, is for sale in a judicial public auction for 4.6 million. This procedure, after decades of political inaction and disagreements between the poet's heirs, prevents the administration from taking the initiative in a hypothetical purchase negotiation, since it does not have the right of first refusal. The Community of Madrid completed the protection of Velintonia at the beginning of June with the figure of the Asset of Patrimonial Interest (BIP), which limits some uses of the house, but does not prevent it from being sold to a real estate agency or to an individual who has nothing to do with it. with the culture.

The minister did not guarantee that a definitive agreement will come out of the meeting with Marta Rivera de la Cruz and Andrea Levy, but it will be a starting point. The Ministry of Culture of the community faces the meeting with a "spirit of collaboration" and affirms that it arrives with "homework done", since a few days ago it also began the procedures to declare Aleixandre's archive of Cultural Interest (BIC), which which prevents it from being exported. Of course, remember that in Madrid there is already a House of Poetry like the one requested by the Association of Friends of Vicente Aleixandre, that of José Hierro in Getafe. The Madrid City Council, for its part, hopes that together they can reach an agreement that guarantees the protection of the house and the archive, which in 2007 was about to be acquired by the Junta de Andalucía for 5 million.

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