PATCH PROJECT
Location
MUSEUM-HOUSE BLASCO IBÁÑEZ
Address:
Isabel de Villena 159. 46011 Valencia (Last stretch of the beach
promenade, bordering the municipality of Alboraya)
Ownership:
Council of Valencia
Telephone:
96/2082586
Email:
cmvbi@ valencia.es
Building (distribution):
It consists of the ground floor (hall and exhibition room), first floor
(hall for the permanent exhibition) and second floor (library and
research centre).
Type of works:
The type of works which are housed in the Museum-house Blasco
Ibáñez:
- Bibliographies and documentaries
- Museum-related items
Determining the value and importance of cultural goods in order to
establish an order of priority in case of rescue, is a complicated and
really difficult task. In case of the Museum-house Blasco Ibáñez ,
which is entirely dedicated to the writer Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
(1867-1928), the most important and valuable works are
bibliographies and documentaries, as these are the ones which
reveal his intellectual production. The museum-related items
collected in the Museum-house Blasco Ibáñez are comprised by a
great variety of goods linked to the novelist and his family, such as
furniture, ceramics, sculptures, oil paintings, engravings, jewelry,
personal objects, awards and acknowledgements, decorative
elements, etc.
With respect to the position of the a.m. funds in the Museum-house
Blasco Ibáñez, the collections of bibliographies and documentaries
are mostly kept in the library on the second floor of the building,
although some manuscripts are shown to the public in the
exhibitions on the ground floor and the first floor. The bibliographies,
most of them monographs, are also on the second floor in wooden
shelves with metal-grated doors. The documentaries (manuscripts
and forms) are stored in wooden or metal pieces of furniture,
especially designed for all the documentation, except for three
complete manuscripts of Blasco Ibáñez´s works. Due to their size,
they do not fit into this piece of furniture and are therefore kept in a
wooden cupboard with a key, together with a collection of
photographic glass. As for the museum-related items, the vast
majority is exhibited to the public, distributed between the ground
floor and the first floor. Because of its importance it is interesting to
highlight the collection of engravings by Rembrandt and the furniture
in the office of the newspaper El Pueblo, founded by Blasco.
Vulnerability of the mentioned goods:
The vulnerability of the goods is greatly dependent on their base
material. The organic materials are much more vulnerable to water
and fire, whereas inorganic material is more resistant.
 Bibliographies and documentaries. Material: wood.
 Museum-related items (furniture, paintings, engravings, varied
objects such as jewelry, ceramics, etc.). Diversity of materials:
wood, canvases, paper, ceramics, metals, etc.
Security measures to rescue the goods:
 In case of an earthquake:
 The published bibliography about protection of cultural goods
in case of disasters caused by different agents (fire, water,
earthquakes, etc.) emphasizes the fact that prevention is the
best formula to avoid losses or to mitigate damage. Thus,
preventive measures are the best thing to salvage the cultural
heritage. In this sense, it is essential to have the confection
and implementation of an adequate Emergency Plan available,
as well as the correct preparation of the installations in the
building and staff training. Along with this, an updated
Inventory of the guarded goods is necessary, with one or
several copies both in this building and in other secure
centres.
 After the earthquake. Rescue of the goods.
 If an earthquake takes place, the saving of human lives is
paramount. Once this is guaranteed, the priority is to rescue
the updated inventory of goods and the protection of affected
objects in case the seismic movements repeat, or due to their
direct consequences like fire, flooding or looting of works of
art.
 Once the rescue of the inventory and the protection of goods
is secured, it would be convenient to relocate the funds to a
safer place. The order of relocation should respect the priority
of importance of the goods, although this criterion is very
relative, since a great part of the building might be
inaccessible after an earthquake.
 Rescue of the goods in the Museum-house Blasco Ibáñez:
 Order of priority:
1.) Documentaries: Due to their unique and unrepeatable
condition, all of Blasco Ibáñez´s manuscripts and personal
documents, especially the complete manuscripts of El Intruso
(The Intruder) and La Catedral (The Cathedral), as well as the
complete mecanoscript of Los cuatro jinetes del Apocalipsis
(The four horsemen of the Apocalypse).
2.) Bibliographies: The first editions and luxury editions of Blasco
Ibáñez´s novels. The remaining editions can be more easily
recuperated.
3.) Museum-related items.
 Precautions:
 Both for the bibliographies and the documentaries made out of
paper, and for the museum-related objects of different
materials (wood, stone, metal, etc.), it is necessary to avoid
humidity in order to impede water causing distortions in certain
materials. Also the proliferation of microorganisms which could
affect them, have to be prevented. Therefore, it is essential to
start relocating the goods to an appropriate place, with
adequate conditions of humidity and temperature, cleaning
properly all the material and drying the pieces or collections if
required. Fragments or parts of certain works might have to be
consolidated and set up.
 It´s necessary to register or make an inventory of all the
recovered goods or fragments, as well as the above
mentioned.
 In case of the Museum-house Blasco Ibáñez, as it is a building
close to the coast, there is a risk of damages caused by sea
water, the effects of which are similar to flooding caused by
sweet water, but the chemical reactions are more harmful for
some collections.
 For the rescue and relocation of the collections it would be
suitable to have a stock of necessary materials and supplies.