Voces del Prado

The experience with the directors

María Merino Cabrera, Clerical Support, 1977-2004

The first anecdote I can talk about was with Mr. Xavier de Salas, when a man who worked at the offices came to see him. The offices were at the upper floors of the Museum and they would come down to the Director's office to consult office affairs or whatever with him.
Then this man told me, "I've come to speak to the director." I asked him to tell me his name and I called Xavier de Salas: "Mr. Aragón has come to see you, can he go into your office?" Salas asked me, "And who is Mr. Aragón?". And I said, "One of the men working up at the offices." "OK, then, tell him to come in." He went in and after a while I was called in: "María, please come in." I went in and he told me, "Here is the lady who just promoted you. You're no longer [the province] Zaragoza, now you're [the region] Aragón." Now that was some silly blunder.
When Mr. Pita Andrade and the person who was the deputy director left the Museum it was a very hard blow. I think it was hard for all of us who were very close to them. So we decided to arrange a going away thing and we all went, it was sad, I remember it nostalgically now.
I don't remember the circumstances but after Pérez Sánchez came Mr. Sopeña, Federico Sopeña. For everything related to painting he relied on the curators, asking them many things about painting because it wasn't his field [he was a musicologist]. He was a very pleasant person, we never had any complaints. He didn't get the best welcome but not because of him but due to the nasty way in which they removed Pérez Sánchez from his post.
And then eventually Perez Sánchez replaced Sopeña as the Director. I have very fond memories of Sopeña, he was a very nice man. I even conserve a few notes that he wrote…
I remember the relationship with Mr. Alfonso Pérez Sánchez from the period when he was the deputy director. My father was from Murcia and he was from Cartagena so we often talked about back home. Later on he became the director. I also had a lot of contact with Mr. Javier Urrea, who began as a curator and went on to higher positions. And Ms. Manuela Mena I knew from before her entering the Museum, when she came as a student. I consider her my friend, a lasting friendship, also with Mr. Miguel Zugaza.