Voces del Prado

Remembrance of times past

Inmaculada Echeverría Elvira, Head of the Technical Documentation and Laboratory Section, 1985-2024

In the times I remember, I was friends with everyone—the sales people selling catalogues, the painters, the Art Handler team, the plumbers, everybody. Difficulties would arise, there were many, and it was impressive how easily they were solved. We were all in the same building. I'm talking of the 80s and 90s. There was a personal relationship. Now there are new people who have come on board, new friendships are built up but everything is more dissipated. The spirit of collaboration remains, the relationship with important departments such as Various Trades and the Art Handler team continues, but things are not as close-knitted as before because there are new departments such as Education or Exhibitions. We do collaborate, but in the early days there was a personal involvement. There was a personal affection, you were happy to help out somebody you had known for many years, you knew the difficulties others had to face, and we tried to make work easier for each other. Nowadays, as I mentioned, things have changed, it's different. Even contact with people. Sometimes a long time elapses without seeing someone, and for me it's one of the hardest things.