I'm María del Carmen Garrido Pérez and I've worked at the Prado Museum for 37 years.
I have a degree in History of Art from the Complutense University of Madrid. I am from the first promotion, and right away I got a grant from the Ministry of Education to work at the Madrid Restoration Institute.
After my doctoral thesis I went on to the Prado Museum to carry out the project of setting up a Technical Office, which was non-existent at the Museum at the time.
The idea of setting up this office came from Dr. José María Cabrera, who was the director of the Institute in the late seventies, and together with Professor Javier de Salas, the Director of the Museum, they saw the need to create that office.
They needed a Historian of Art and I was the only one with that preparation, I came along with Professor Cabrera to do it. It was the idea of two people.
Head of the Office of Technical Documentation at the Museum, conservator with the Spanish Association of Museum Professionals. She has worked at the Escuela de Restauración of Madrid, as well as at the laboratory of the Instituto de Conservación y Restauración. She has participated in numerous research studies and publications.
Interview recorded on April 20, 2018