The visit to the Galerías responds to their interest in the comprehensive management model applied to the monument, the history of the site, and especially “the process being followed to disseminate the recent memory of such a complex space from a historical perspective, with particular attention to its most turbulent past in the first half of the 20th century”.

In the last days of Azaroa, the team of speakers from the International Conference on Archaeological Heritage from the Modern and Colonial Period came to learn about the comprehensive management project being developed at Punta Begoña for the physical and functional recovery of the Galerías and the cultural landscape in which they are integrated.

The Conference, organized by the Built Heritage Research Group of the University of the Basque Country-EHU, the Cross-Border Cooperation Laboratories Network, and the Center for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research of Panama, is part of two transnational projects:

1. 1. Multidisciplinary Approaches to Archaeological Sciences and Cultural Heritage, in collaboration with the Université Bordeaux Montaigne (France).
   2. Heritage, Archaeology and Archaeometry in Panama Viejo (16th – 17th centuries): an interdisciplinary strategy for study, preservation and training, in collaboration with CIHAC of Panama.

Experts from the University of the Basque Country came to Punta Begoña, such as Javier Iñáñez, Saúl Guerrero, Sergio Escribano, Carmen Sánchez and Gorka Martín Echebarría; from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, such as Sandra Martín; André Teixeira from the Portuguese Centre For Humanities; Tomás Mendizabal and Juan Guillermo Martín, from the Center for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research of Panama; and Jean-Sebastien Pourcelot, from Antropólogos Asociados de Panamá.

Over several hours, the meeting covered the archaeological, artistic, chemical, restoration and historical research carried out on the traces of the events experienced in the galleries during the first half of the 20th century, and developed in the first phase of the recovery and enhancement project by the interdisciplinary team from the University of the Basque Country-EHU involved in its study.

The visit also addressed the steps taken by the Getxo Town Council and the Punta Begoña Foundation for the complete and rigorous evolutionary documentation of the monument’s recovery.

What generated particular interest was the set of works developed to prevent degradation through wax treatments, canvas linings and paper coverings, the wall cleaning undertaken and above all the use of digital and technological tools to approach a measured, rigorous and objective dissemination of the wall paintings in the gallery hall.

Among the thousands of people who actively and participatively visit the restoration process at Punta Begoña, those requesting educational, technical, conference and professional visits are increasingly playing a more prominent role, interested and attracted by the uniqueness, and even exceptionality, of what is being developed and can be seen at the Galerías.

The demand for visits of this nature for the year 2026 has soared, which leads to the dilemma posed by the need to reconcile the great magnitude of work being undertaken this year with the professional and also social interest that such circumstances generate.