This afternoon at 6.30 p.m., the Minister for the Presidency, Relations with Parliament and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, will open the photography exhibition Aquel Madrid. 50 years of photographs of the Heraldo and Madrid at the headquarters of the Fundación Diario Madrid (Calle Larra, 14. Madrid).
The 172 photographs on display were selected from among the more than 160,000 that make up the archive held by the Fundación Diario Madrid, which first came from the Heraldo de Madrid and then from the Madrid newspaper. Together they provide a journey through the growth of the capital and its people from the point of view of everyday life and customs.
The exhibition covers half a century (1921-1971) of the life of the city and that of its inhabitants, the people of Madrid, the undisputed protagonists of the exhibition. It is easy to conclude that being a Madrileño is not due to place of birth but to the desire to integrate, so that, as Calderón de la Barca said, “Madrid is the homeland of all, for in its small world, Spaniards and foreigners are children of equal affection”. Madrid is places, but it is also attitudes, and that Madrid is bustle, it is fiesta, it is street, it is the evening stroll and the botijos a la fresca, it is the nocturnal conversation and the desperate traffic (of quadrupeds first and motorised vehicles later), it is the markets, the queues in the metro and the attempts to turn the banks of the “apprentice river” that is the Manzanares into a beach. That Madrid is piecework and siesta, it is early mornings and festivals, it is routine and commotion, it is enjoyment.
The exhibition will open to the public on Friday 17 June and will remain on display at the recently refurbished headquarters of the Fundación Diario Madrid.
