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I remember my first day, as when you start it’s normally as a substitute or replacing someone who’s on holiday and you’re there all month. But you normally start as a substitute and also in order to get your bearings you spend one day in one gallery and one in other... I started in Room 52 and it must have been a temporary exhibition as there were people looking at the paintings and talking among themselves. I really suffered every time they got close to the paintings. Then when I saw they were touching them I rushed over and said, “I’m sorry you can’t touch the paintings, it’s not allowed, you mustn’t touch”. The person looked at me and said, “I’m the deputy director”. You can’t imagine my face. But she said, “But it’s fine, it’s fine...” I mean, she didn’t take it badly. I didn’t know her or know who she was. It was Manuela Mena, as Pérez Sánchez was director then and she was deputy director. It was my first day and that was my first blunder.
She worked at the Museo del Prado as a gallery attendant from 1990 to 2013. She also worked for some time at the information desk and at the admissions desk.
Interview recorded on April 23, 2018
