Spanish museum’s appeal to locals living under coronavirus quarantine: ‘help us preserve history’

On March 17, Vilamuseu, the physical incarnation of which can be found in Villajoyosa, about 30km northeast of Alicante, on Spain’s east coast, began offering virtual tours and displays of exhibits on its Facebook page.

The video published on day one takes viewers on a tour of the museum’s ethnography storeroom. In the clip – versions of which are available in Spanish, English and the local language, Valencian – director Antonio Espinosa explains how the 23,724 pieces from centuries past in Vilamuseu’s collection have been inventoried and why it’s important to discover the original names for once-everyday items. And not just the common names, says Espinosa, but those used specifically in Villajoyosa, which could have differed from those used for the same implements in Altea, 30km up the coast.

This may sound like slim pickings for those familiar with the Google Arts and Culture art website – which offers online access to 500 cultural organisations around the world, including the Hermitage Museum, in St Petersburg; the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; the Uffizi Gallery in Florence; the British Museum in London; the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid; and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna – but Vilamuseu is also making plans for future exhibitions, by asking locals to send in audio messages, videos and photographs to its WhatsApp account, to help document current events.

“Sometimes we have to live truly historical moments, like this quarantine in which we are bringing out the best of ourselves,” reads the museum’s appeal. “The coronavirus will pass and we will remember when we went out to applaud the health workers at the window.” The 8pm serenade of the nation’s medical workers – with hand claps and the bashing of saucepan lids – can be heard every evening in the region’s towns and cities.