“Morocco and Spain share a common history, common roots. It is therefore absolutely necessary to publicize the historical ties uniting the two countries through culture and art,” said Qotbi at a press briefing in Madrid, dedicated to the presentation of this exhibition.
This event “helps build bridges through this incredible and indestructible cement that we need today which is culture,” noted the president of the FNM, recalling that this “unique and exceptional” exhibition owes its birth to a memorandum of understanding, signed on February 13, 2019 under the presidency of HM King Mohammed VI and King Felipe of Spain, between the Foundation and the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports on cultural and museum cooperation.
In this sense, he added, a first concretization of this agreement was the exhibition ”Moroccan Trilogy 1950-2020” held in April 2021 at the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid.
Organized by the FNM and the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, the exhibition will show a selection of nearly 350 objects and cultural property including works that have never been exhibited outside Morocco, said Qotbi, who praised, on this occasion, the effort made by the two curators of the exhibition, Abdelaziz El Idrissi and Eduardo Galan, who have done an “outstanding job”.
Such a unique exhibition could not have been achieved without the momentum driven by HM King Mohammed VI in favor of art and culture, said Qotbi, paying tribute to the vision of the Sovereign who has given pride of place to culture and provide the Kingdom with large-scale museums.
“We currently have 14 museums and we will still create others to further democratize access to art and culture in the various regions of Morocco,” said the president of the FNM.
Speaking on this occasion, the Secretary General of the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, Victor Francos, noted that this exhibition “reflects and consolidates the historical ties that unite the two countries, which share common values and interests”.
“The neighborhood and exchanges have always been maintained between Spain and Morocco over the centuries. This exhibition is a testimony to this permanent exchange between the two countries and a new milestone in cultural cooperation,” added Francos.
The exhibition, he said, reflects the “moments of encounter” and is a “unique opportunity to discover the common heritage and project the cultural and museum cooperation into the future.
In the same context, Isabel Izquierdo Peraile, director of programming of the Spanish Cultural Action (ACE), a body responsible for promoting Spanish culture, praised the “generosity” of Morocco that has allowed the exhibition of objects and cultural property that have never left the Moroccan territory, adding that this “ambitious” exhibition is a hymn to the “dialogue”, a “value added” and a “recognition of the neighborhood” between two friendly countries.
The exhibition, open to the public from May 25 to October 16 at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid, banishes borders, presents an “exciting reality” and pays tribute to a “wealth of knowledge and understanding” between the two countries, said the Spanish official, welcoming the “excellent institutional and museum collaboration” between Morocco and Spain.
The exhibition “Around the columns of Hercules. The millennial relations between Morocco and Spain” is the result of four years of continuous work and cooperation between the two countries, said, for his part, the director of the Spanish National Archaeological Museum.
“We are very pleased with this cooperation and the results achieved through collaboration with our Moroccan counterparts,” he added.
Source: Agency Morocaine De Presse