PRESS RELEASE

After reopening, the Rialia Industry Museum in Portugalete will be promoted as an Industrial Tourism resource.

RIALIA REOPENS ITS DOORS

AFTER IMPORTANT REFORMS TO THE BUILDING AND CHANGES IN THE EXHIBITION DISCOURSE OF ITS PERMANENT EXHIBITION.

• Rialia, the Museum of Industry of Euskadi.
• Women and men are protagonists of our region’s most recent industrial history.
• A museum for everyone. The first museum in Euskadi to use the beacon system that guarantees an Inclusive Museum.
• A museum to touch, see, smell and feel our most recent history.

The mayor of Portugalete, Mikel Torres, together with the Minister of Tourism of the Basque Government, Javier Hurtado and different authorities, have attended the reopening of Rialia, the Industry Museum of Portugalete, which has been closed for the last two months for renovations and conditioning both of the structure of the museum as well as its permanent exhibition. This project has been possible thanks to the financing from the Department of Tourism of the Basque Government, led by the socialist Javier Hurtado. It is framed within the “Relaunch Plan for Disadvantaged Regions, Preferential Action Zones (ZAP)”. One of the actions included in this plan is valorising the industrial heritage and the estuary. It is precisely along these lines that the actions carried out in recent months at the Rialia Museum have been framed to highlight the industrial heritage and turn Rialia into the leading Industry Museum in the Basque Country.

“The Rialia Museum is in a privileged enclave, a watchtower that allows us to understand the setting in which the events of our maritime history and the industry of the Left Bank of the Nervión took place. It is also a driving force for the tourist promotion of our Village. For this reason, it was the City Council’s wish to consolidate this Museum as a reference for Industrial Tourism in Bizkaia and Euskadi, and to do so, it was necessary to intervene in it in several axes. On the one hand, it was essential to undertake critical structural reforms to preserve the highly valuable industrial pictorial collection that the museum houses and other elements in optimal conditions. To this aim, the air conditioning of the entire building has been renewed, the roof has been waterproofed to avoid leaks and humidity, the electrical and lighting installation has been renewed, and finally, the decorative and ornamental elements have been modified. That is part of its structure. A space on the upper floor that until now was used as a warehouse has also been recovered, transforming it into a small Research Room for all those university students, teachers and researchers who want to delve deeper into our most recent industrial history. The room consists of two workstations with computer equipment, and internet access and has an extensive bibliography to make necessary queries.

On the other hand, action has also been taken on the content of the Museum. The permanent exhibition of Rialia has undergone significant changes; a discourse has been created that connects all the elements that already existed, combining them with the incorporation of new features and documentary funds and with the integration of New Technologies; all of this to consolidates what until now is the headquarters of the only industry museum in the Basque Country at this time. It has been taken into account that the Museum usually holds two or three temporary exhibitions a year on the fourth floor, so this room. However, now part of the permanent exhibition discourse has been designed lighter so that the elements. That right now they occupy it can be easily removed when we have an exhibition of interest.”

Has declared the mayor of Portugalete.

The funds of the permanent collection of Rialia, Museum of Industry, are made up mainly of large-format and precious pictorial works, donated to the Portugalete City Council and coming from the offices of Altos Hornos de Vizcaya and Babcock&Wilcox, with results by Martínez Ortiz de Zarate, Esparza, Luna y Novicio, Badosa, Gómez Gimeno, etc…; in addition to other pieces that the City Council has thanks to donations.

“The great challenge has been to structure and connect these magnificent industrial art collections from the collection with innovative museographic elements, to present them attractively and interactively. Furthermore, the men and women who were part of our most recent history become protagonists of the Rialia Museum in this new exhibition discourse. The “Voz Obrera” project brings us ten testimonies from people who narrate in first person their experience working in these industries and this environment, thus knowing first-hand the transformations around the industrial development of the left bank that made Bizkaia what it today is. “The estuary as a driving force, the Hanging Bridge or the Iron Dock have of course their space and prominence in the Museum,”

Jaio de la Puerta, head of Globalkultura Elkartea and architect of carrying out the reorientation of the museum discourse, has stood out.

AN INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE MUSEUM FOR EVERYONE

The visit to the museum can be done in Basque, Spanish and English. It has been prepared so that people with functional diversity, blind, deaf or with reduced mobility, can do it independently, without needing assistance. Thus, in collaboration with ONCE, through Ilunion, 50 beacons (beacons or electronic devices that connect with an app installed on our phone via Bluetooth, which geolocate and emit the information found on the panels and paintings) have been installed. The application also allows all who visit the exhibition to read more, see more details, and listen to an extended audio guide.

This beacon system, used in some European museums, is the first application to be installed in the Basque Country. This makes Rialia the most inclusive museum in Euskadi at this time.

“In Rialia, you can see, hear, feel, smell and taste the most recent history of our land. You can smell the smell of the factory when you look at the model of Altos Hornos, just as you can smell the sea on the fourth floor.

We do not want to fill the heads of those who visit us with knowledge, data and concepts. We want them to leave with new sensations and with more questions than answers, to spark sparks of curiosity and interest in our industrial history and the history of the people who have made it possible.”

Said Jaio de la Puerta.

AGREEMENTS WITH BASQUE FILMOTECA AND EITB

Through agreements signed with the Basque Film Library and EITB, we have a large documentary centre that can be enjoyed in the small screening room on the fourth floor of the Museum, focusing on the history of the most recent of our land where the industry has been the undisputed protagonist.

Finally, we also pay tribute to image, music and literature,

• We collect photographs of Portugalete and the estuary taken by ten prestigious artists, some from Portugalete. In this regard, the mayor of Portugalete wanted to highlight the photographs of the Portuguese photojournalist Juantxu Rodríguez, who was murdered by US forces during the invasion of Panama in 1989, a recognition and small tribute to his great work and career professional.
• The space called El Tren de Bandas collects the music of the 80s of the 20th century that reflected in its lyrics the social crisis and the challenges it faced Basque society for industrial dismantling: Las Vulpes, Tahures Zurdos, La Polla Récords, Zarama, Hertzainak, Oskorri, Penadas por la Ley, are some of the groups included in this section.
• We can find literary texts from people who have felt moved and inspired by this scenario of estuary and industry. Through snippets of poetry and narrative, we can delve into the places, landscapes and everyday aspects of life, customs and society of a certain era: Juan Antonio Zunzunegui, Gabriel Aresti, Paloma Rodríguez-Miñambres, Julián Zugazagoitia, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Dolores Ibarruri, Ramiro Pinilla, Julio Verne, Ángela Figuera, Kirmen Uribe, Sonia Gonzalez, Blas de Otero, Luis de Castresana, Iratxe Ormatza and Miguel de Unamuno are present with fragments of their writings.

Finally, there is a small space dedicated to the oceans, biodiversity and the importance of their care and conservation, whose content and discourse will be expanded shortly with the creation in front of the Rialia Museum of the Aula del Mar strong>. This space and the Brotherhood of Seafarers and Navigators will highlight and vindicate our connection with the estuary, the sea and our maritime history.