Unesco cold water jug, which does not want literary coffee in the slope of Moyano

A report by the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisory body of UNESCO in a matter of heritage to which ABC has had access to the creation of a literary coffee in La Cuesta de Moyano. This is an idea that the Consistory himself, in tune with the wishes of the booksellers, considered appropriate attending to an ancient request for book professionals and who estimated timely for being useful to promote the survival of this centenary enclave.

However, in the report, which is not binding, the essence of the literary coffee project itself is indicated in a special way, highlighting that it could leave the activity of the booksellers in the background. Both the sellers themselves and the City Council consider that this establishment would have precisely the opposite effect. That is, it would serve to energize this bookstore activity and attract new audiences. A catalyst for the cultural offer that is proposed.

Although the report specifies that it is not clear if citizens have been consulted, the truth is that in 2016, the Madrid City Council promoted the project ‘Moyano Territory’ with the purpose, among others, to consult a consultation to Libraries, neighbors and frequent visitors in the area about ways to boost the slope of Moyano. Literary coffee was an idea resulting from this participatory process.

In 2018, the Madrid City Council presented this coffee project to the Local Historical Heritage Commission, where it was accepted. By declaring the ‘Paseo del Prado and the good retirement, landscape of the arts and sciences’ as a world heritage, the Consistory adapts the project, performs a patrimonial impact assessment and submits it again to 2024 to the opinion of said commission. Once the approval was obtained, the project was presented to UNESCO, through the Ministry of Culture, who after seven months has sent the report of ICOMOS indicated above.

It should be noted that this contradiction comes at a special moment for the enclave: its centenary. According to the delegate of the Area of ​​Culture, Tourism and Sports of the City of Madrid, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, her position is to “start conversations with icomos to analyze the chances of reversing her position.” Thus, they will transfer them “the consideration by the booksellers that this coffee would have a beneficial effect for this activity.” In the words also of Rivera de la Cruz, he regrets that this report does not echo a “historical claim” and the work is to change their minds.

Stable location

Similarly, the president of the Soy de la Cuesta Association, Lara Sánchez, who says that “the request of a literary coffee has been a popular clamor” of visitors is also manifested. This bar, Sánchez argues, “seeks to give a stable and worthy location to a cultural activity that has already been brewing for quite some time.”

For the merchant and president of the booksellers of the Cuesta de Moyano, Carolina Méndez, “it is essential to boost” his “commercial and cultural activity and the encounter with literature at street level.”

The Moyano slope, meanwhile, has scheduled a complete agenda on the occasion of its first centenary in which it includes thematic conferences and exhibitions, one of them based on the avant -garde. This varapalo joins the complaints of the booksellers, which demand improvements in the enclave, mainly in the wiring and in the sanitation of the booths.