The first spanish railroad. From Havana to Güines

The exhibition EL PRIMER CAMINO DE HIERRO ESPAÑOL. DE LA HABANA A GÜINES opened last December 5th. It will be at the Palacio de Fernán Núñez (44 Santa Isabel Street) until Thursday 14th December (https://ffe.es/noticias/noticia.asp?id=1788), and from the following Saturday 16th it can be visited at the MUSEO DEL FERROCARRIL at 61 Paseo de las Delicias, Madrid.

This is a graphic exhibition of photographs and engravings, framed within the celebrations of the “175th anniversary of the railway in the Iberian Peninsula”.

Those who want to take a walk through Memory in Images will find 24 photographs by José Gómez de la Carrera.  Deceased in 1908, this photographer settled in Havana around 1885 (source: FFE website) and proceeded to document life on the island of Cuba, when it was a Spanish colony, as well as the whole process of Cuba’s independence.

These 24 photos are part of the MUR COLLECTION and their discourse is complemented with engravings from the DIAZ GUERRA COLLECTION (in the custody of the FFE).  The narrative conveyed to the viewer moves among the technical, social progress and the particular customs associated with what was the first railway line (inaugurated on 19 November 1837), which transported sugar cane between the main centres of Cuban production.

This exhibition has been curated by Barbara Mur Borrás (PhD in Fine Arts, art curator and cultural manager – https://barbaramur.com/); it has been organised by the FUNDACIÓN DE FERROCARRILES ESPAÑOLES, with the support of the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the Madrid City Council.

We congratulate COLECCIÓN MUR for their unique and unprecedented contribution to this exhibition, as well as for their preservation work, which they have carried out for many years, in favour of Memory through photography.  And we also take this opportunity to congratulate them for the inauguration, a few months ago, of the MUSEO DE INGENIOS MUSICALES in Labuerda – Huesca (https://museoingeniosmusicales.es) thanks to the COLECCIÓN MUR FOUNDATION.