A senior Spanish representative has visited the North East to see how the art of his homeland is helping to revitalise a former industrial town.
His Excellency Don Carlos Bastarreche Sagües, Spanish Ambassador to the UK, took a tour of the former Barrington Bank and Backhouse School buildings in Bishop Auckland Market Place, where the UK’s first gallery dedicated to the arts and culture of Spain is currently under construction.
The Spanish Gallery, due to open in 2019, will form part of The Auckland Project, a new arts, faith and heritage destination, which is being created to help revitalise Bishop Auckland through employment, training and educational opportunities and to draw in visitors from across the UK and further afield to help oxygenate the town and surrounding region.
It was originally inspired by Jacob and His Twelve Sons, a series of paintings by Spanish master, Francisco de Zurbarán, which have hung in nearby Auckland Castle for more than 250 years.
While the paintings themselves are currently on tour in the USA, His Excellency Don Carlos Bastarreche Sagües was given the opportunity to see inside their 900-year-old home, which is undergoing a multi-million pound conservation programme by The Auckland Project, supported by National Lottery players via the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
Due to re-open to the public on December 1, 2018, Auckland Castle and its Zurbarán paintings will form the centrepiece of The Auckland Project’s new world class visitor destination, which will open in stages over the next three years.
The conservation of Auckland Castle is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Heritage
Conservation Trust, Sir James Knott Trust, The Charles Hayward Foundation, The Headley
Trust, The Linbury Trust, The Rothschild Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, J Paul Getty Jnr Charitable Trust and Richard Oldfield.
More information about The Auckland Project, including a full list of supporters, can be found online at aucklandproject.org or by searching Auckland Project on Facebook and Twitter.
