Knowledge takes place. And it weighs. At the Faculty of Geography and History of Santiago – the building born as the headquarters of the University of Compostela, built between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century – they prove it to their cost. The load of its library’s 150,000 volumes is too heavy for the dilapidated building, which has not seen a major renovation in half a century. An engineering report which warned of an “imminent” risk of collapse after a huge crack appeared in the warehouse floor has forced urgent action. Workers are busy dismantling shelves and moving more than 80,000 books to a location that will not endanger the structure. But it is only a matter of “palliative care”, “covering the haemorrhage” of the largest workplace in a historic center classified as a world heritage site, while waiting for the institutions to raise the necessary funds to undertake the profound rehabilitation that ‘they cry out loudly. .
“Without our library, we cannot have an ordinary life: we cannot survive without paper books. » The current dean of the faculty, Marco García, condenses the importance of the immense fund in these times when it seems that everything can be digitized or in the cloud. In your case, it’s not like that. And let’s not forget that teachers and students have launched an online initiative where they highlight their favorite work on paper.
But, in addition to the funds, hidden from the general public, the immense reading room – with its large tables surrounded by old cabinets full of books – is part of the sentimental memory of generations and generations of university students who have used it to study, socialize or build friendships, while browsing the classrooms or the no less historic cafeteria, located in front of the Plaza de Abastos -according to the guides, the second most visited place in Santiago after the Cathedral-, and which, pending reform, closed its doors to accommodate more than 27,000 books moved from the library.
Eight thousand other volumes found their place in the basement of the Faculty of Philosophy – on the other side of the university church, a deconsecrated temple which today serves as an exhibition and events hall – while the other 45,000 were distributed by the Faculty itself. reading room. This also forced it to close until mid-November. And all the while, the dozen librarians travel miles between the three spaces to respond to requests from teachers, students and researchers.
“Besides being a heritage building, a work of art, we are the largest work center in Almendra”, the heart of the historic city. “1,500 people come here every day, more than half of whom are undergraduates,” summarizes García. The Faculty of Medicine, located at the northern entrance to Praza do Obradoiro, still exceeds these figures but, although located inside the monumental zone, it is only a few meters from the Almendra, which avoids any dispute over the title.
The house on the roof
The underlying problems of Xeography and History are not new. “It rains in the offices,” says García with the incredulity of someone who has seen how three-meter-wide walls end up becoming a “sieve”: “the mortar dissolves and the water seeps between the stones”. The last major reform took place in the 1970s and was “rather unfortunate”.
Seen in perspective, this work did not spare any of the typical errors of the time: replacing the oak doors with conglomerate doors, putting aluminum in the cloister, creating spaces with dimensions prohibited by the regulations in force. … “Like the building, it has three heights. , but each is equivalent to two floors, mezzanines have been created. And there, although it is a heritage property, all the classics were used: sintasol, firospan, rubber “which is not exactly fireproof…”.
In 2016, the development of the Master Plan began to rehabilitate the main civil building of a monumental area full of religious constructions, starting with the Cathedral itself. The Consortium, the tripartite entity formed by the Town Hall, the Xunta and the State to ensure this monumental heritage, finalized the document in 2022. The cost was then estimated at around 24 million euros and an execution period of five years: until 2027. However, there are works that can no longer wait.
The maintenance of the infrastructure of the University of Santiago (USC) is the responsibility of the management. Its owner, Xabier Ferreira, is realistic. According to him, “redefining” the library within the framework of the Master Plan would cost 6 million euros, which is the budget it has each year to complete the 700,000 square meters of construction between the Compostela and Lugo campuses. “There are those who say it’s a lot: it’s neither a lot nor a little, that’s what it would cost.” “We literally have to start the house from the roof,” confirms García, because this work, he says, would barely solve the problems with the roof and the tank itself.
Aware that no institution is currently able to cope with such an expense – the Consortium’s investment allocation in 2024 has not reached one million euros and it will need three just to renovate the Conference Center – USC is working on a new proposal to address this issue. urgent situation. While waiting to finalize all the figures, Ferreira estimates it at around 500,000 euros. It would be launched next year and still in agreement with the deans’ team, which will be renewed in the middle of this “perfect storm”. The elections will take place next week, virtually at the same time as the presidential elections in the United States.
The manager does not want to separate the problem of ownership from that of its entire environment. “The same thing is happening to many other people in the historic center: if more resources are not provided, the city will have a problem of physical deterioration.” The Faculty of Geography and History is a unique building and this is why it requires the involvement of the three administrations concerned. She does not want a solution like the one that the Xunta has just given to the Faculty of Pharmacy, after several years without a seat and with its students distributed in several centers.
At a cost practically identical to that estimated by the Master Plan for the old headquarters of the institution, the new Pharmacy building will cost 24.5 million euros. The Galician government will contribute twelve times in three annual installments and “allow” the USC – which will also have to contribute 2.5 million of its own funds – to renegotiate the payment of an additional 10 million of its debt with the banking entities.
“Pharmacy is an academic and health issue, since it is the only faculty of this specialty in Galicia, but here we are talking about a historic building.” In this document, academic needs are combined with the “conservation” of a “completely unique” property which also fulfills the function of revitalizing a monumental space invested by pilgrims: “Without the town hall and the three faculties – Xeography and History, Medicine and Philosophy: we end up with a theme park in the historic center: a food market and a few tourists,” concludes Ferreira.
