The state of Texas plans to invest 700 million dollars to transform the historic site of The Alamo into a large cultural and educational space that will tell the past of this North American state and “how important Spain was to Texas,” said the president of The Alamo Trust, Hope Andrade, during her visit to our country last week.
Andrade traveled to Madrid to receive the painting From Texas to Victory: A Spanish Contribution to the Independence of the U.S., by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, which has been donated by Iberdrola. During her stay, she took the opportunity to emphasize the close collaboration that The Alamo Trust has maintained for years with the Spain-United States Council Foundation, whose goal is to promote the recognition of the Spanish footprint in the history of Texas and the United States.
In a recorded interview (you can watch it here) for the Spain-U.S. Council Foundation, Andrade explained the progress of the new museum complex at The Alamo, one of the most important cultural projects being developed in Texas.
Its goal, she said, is to “protect the history of Texas” and offer visitors an immersive experience. “We want,” she said, “it to be a place where you will feel the history” and where “one day will not be enough to visit the entire complex.” “We do not want a visitor to leave there without understanding what happened,” she said, “but it will be even more important that they appreciate what happened.”
Among the new facilities is a collection center of more than 160,000 square feet (almost 15,000 square meters), exhibition galleries, a theater, event spaces, a restaurant, and other services designed for visitors to enjoy immersing themselves in a fascinating collective history.
The project of The Alamo is a demonstration of the close collaboration that both institutions have maintained for years to promote the recognition of the Spanish footprint in this southern state. Hope Andrade thanked the participation of the Foundation, “without which we would not have been able to do what we have done; that impact will be there forever.”
For her part, the head of Legal Affairs and International Relations of The Alamo Trust, Daniela Serna, recalled that The Alamo is currently the most visited place in the state of Texas, with nearly 1.6 million annual visitors, a figure they hope to raise to 2.5 million or even surpass once the new museum’s construction is completed.
Serna also emphasized that the presence of Spain will be one of the fundamental elements of the future museographic tour. “The part of Spain is very important in the new museum,” she noted, before thanking the support received over all these years: “Thanks to the Foundation, many doors have been opened,” including those of many Spanish museums —such as the Naval Museum or the Army Museum— with which Serna expressed her desire to open multiple avenues of collaboration.
