The Port of Santander turns 150 years old today
On the occasion of this anniversary, the highest authorities of the Autonomous Community inaugurated the exhibition Atrás Toda. The Port of Santander in the historical photography collection of José Antonio Torcida (1859-1900).
The president of the Port Authority explained that this exhibition is the "starting flag" to the commemorative events of the 150th anniversary.
Santander 10-05-22. The president of the Port Authority, Francisco Martin, said this morning during the opening of the exhibition Atrás Toda. The Port of Santander in the collection of historical photography of José Antonio Torcida (1859-1900), that after 150 years of history, "the figures show that the port is in a phase of rebirth that consolidate it as an economic engine of the region.
Martin stressed that, to celebrate this anniversary but "taking into account the uncertain times we are living", from the APS we will offer "an eclectic and quality program" with which citizens can identify with their port, "which has made Santander is where it is". Thus, the calendar of activities will be full of actions based "on the reuse of materials and the rehabilitation of port infrastructure, giving value to actions that have shaped the history of the port over the years".
The presentation of this opening of the program of activities of the 150th anniversary was also attended by the president of Cantabria, Miguel Angel Revilla, the delegate of the Government, Ainoa Quiñones and the Minister of Industry and Vice President of the port, Javier Marcano.
The president of Cantabria has expressed "the great value and interest" of the exhibition, has stressed how the port has evolved over these 150 years and has shown that this infrastructure is in a moment of "recovery of its activity" in an accelerated manner, thanks to public and private investments amounting to more than 150 million euros for the next three years.
For her part, the delegate of the Government has expressed the need to "claim the port as a fundamental infrastructure for Cantabria" and stressed "its ability to continuously adapt to the environment and new times".
The Minister of Industry and Vice President of the port wanted to highlight the "enormous value" of this exhibition, thanking the collector José Antonio Torcida for his important work in compiling images "that tell more than a hundred years of an industry that has been changing the landscape and the way of life of the Cantabrians".
Marcano has assured that the program to be developed by the port, which has the support of the Ministry of Industry, will also serve to celebrate "a year of records" and the start of "another special event" as is the Jubilee Year Lebaniego in 2023.
Exhibition "Atrás Toda. The Port of Santander in the historical photography collection of José Antonio Torcida (1859-1968)".
The exhibition, which will remain at the Palacete del Embarcadero between May 10 and July 10 and is curated by Manuela Alonso, focuses on the collection of historical photography belonging to José Antonio Torcida, one of the most prominent that exists in the region and has an important compendium dedicated to the port environment. It will be the first time that many of these images will be exhibited and reproduced, covering more than a hundred years of landscape, events and works in the port environment, together with others already known and essential to narrate its history.
From a chronological point of view, the first photographs in this exhibition place us in the year 1859 before the creation of the Port Board, when it was still Consulado del Mar, and it has a surprise in store for us: two wonderful stereoscopic albumen views by the photographer Casimiro Yborra, which are eight years ahead of what until now were considered the oldest known photographs of the port, taken by Jean Laurent in 1867.
The port has been witness and protagonist of countless historical events. For decades it became the gateway to the city for great dignitaries (kings, presidents, VIPs). And, in turn, in the place of departure of the troops who left for the Cuban War or those who marched in the Civil War; It was damaged by the Catastrophe of the steamship Cabo Machichaco in 1893 and by the fire that devastated Santander in 1941. Professional photographers such as Casimiro Yborra, Zenón Quintana, Leandro Desages, Pablo Urtasun, Duomarco, Julnay, Samot, Fraile Becerril Hojas, Araúna and Bustamente publicized all relevant events through the press and local newspapers. Many of them had open studios in the city. Located in attics in search of natural light on Ribera Street, in the old square, or in Becedo and the houses on the docks, they recorded with their cameras the urban transformation and the change of use that the places adjacent to the bay were undergoing. Photographers were no strangers to economic activity either, and industrial photography documented shipbuilding, the emergence of the railroad, fishing activity and the work of stevedores, rowers and other port activities.
The exhibition ends in 1968 with a report on the II Naval Week. Therefore, a vision of the port will be given for more than a hundred years with unpublished images and other known and essential ones that also tell us about the multifaceted nature of the image.
The calendar of activities will include other exhibitions such as the one offered by Javier Mariscal or others of aerial photography, constructions on the seafront, port models or the art collection of the APS as well as concerts, theater, cabaret or cinema, among others, coinciding also with the visit of the Spanish Navy Training Ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano, which will remain docked in the port of Santander between June 20 and 24.
History of the port's constitution
The year 2022 marks the anniversary of two fundamental institutions for understanding the contemporary development of the Port of Santander and the dynamics of the territories in which it operates: the regional capital, the region of the Bay, Cantabria and even the Spanish State.
On Friday, May 10, 1872, the Gaceta de Madrid, the official organ of expression and legislative and regulatory dissemination of the Government, published a Decree of the Ministry of Development signed by Francisco Romero Robledo, its holder during the reign of Amadeo I, and the monarch himself, by which, at the request of the City Council of Santander, supported by the Provincial Council, the Board of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce and a large number of neighbors, authorized the creation of a special Board, which is called the Board of the Works of the port, designed to ensure the promotion of works to improve the port, its implementation and administration; specifying the attributions granted to it for the fulfillment of its purposes.
On Tuesday, May 10, 2022 will be, therefore, 150 years of the enactment of the creation of the successor figure of the Royal Consulate of Sea and Land of Santander and the Board of Trade as an administrative instrument of the port, which acted as manager of this for nearly a century; institution that relieved in these tasks, with different prerogatives and without continuity, the Board of the Port of Santander in 1968 and the Port Authority of Santander in 1992.
Also, at the end of 2022 will be the 30th anniversary of the entry into operation of the Port Authority of Santander as a result of the publication in the Official State Gazette of November 24, 1992 of the Law on State Ports and Merchant Marine, an instrument with which the Central Administration promotes the most recent reform and modernization of the state-owned port system.