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The regime at the Museo de Prado was strict, like being in the Army. In fact, many of the people I met when I arrived were former policemen, members of the Army, or they had been Civil Guards or members of the "Blueshirts". I met a sergeant who was at the door and who had taken part in the war and his jaw was split. When I joined there were quite a few people like that.
I remember my first day when I entered through the doors; I’d never been inside the Museo del Prado up until that time. They introduced me to the assistant caretaker and the chief of the guards, whose name was Juan [López Santos]. He gave me a tour of the whole museum and showed me where I should enter when I came in the morning to get changed, which was a fixed itinerary. You had to follow exactly the same routine. At that time the Museo del Prado was like doing military service. You arrived and you lined up for inspection, and they even used a pen to see whether your hair was too long, and if it was, they sent you to the barber’s. In the changing-rooms themselves we had a gentleman who came before the shift started and cut your hair. Each of us gave him what seemed appropriate to us. He was the barber at the Museo del Prado.
The rooms were cleaned in the mornings an hour before the shift started. And then everyone had to go to their post, the corresponding hall. They inspected the rooms in order to count the pictures and check whether they were in perfect condition. The windows and the curtains were opened, because, as I said before, in some rooms there was no lighting, only the natural light that entered from outside. The shift began in the halls and there you would stay, in the four or five rooms that corresponded to you, until you were relieved by someone else.
The caretakers were the direct heads of staff at that time. Because the Director had authority over the Secretary and the Secretary had authority over the caretakers. They were the ones who ran the Museo del Prado. This situation changed when the staff began to rebel, because they didn’t understand why it should be like that. Mainly the lift-operators, who were punished because they didn’t cut their hair, and they were punished with guard duty. Guard duty consisted in having to come at 7 o’clock in the morning, two hours before your shift started, to you could do guard duty. They began to refuse to wear caps and have their hair cut like in the army. And that’s where the rebellion started, from the staff’s refusal to do these things, especially the youngest members. And it began with the lift-operators.
He began working at the Museum as an elevator operator, and he has been an electrician there since 1988.
Interview recorded on November 28, 2017
