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Culture opens an investigation into the theft of a Galileo book from the National Library

2021-03-15T20:04:38.521Z


The Ministry announces that the security measures in the institution will be reviewed after the case uncovered by EL PAÍS


Cervantes Room, for researchers, of the National Library Bernardo Pérez

The Ministry of Culture has opened "an informative procedure to find out the facts" for the disappearance of the National Library (BNE) of the astronomical treatise

Sidereus nuncius

, by Galileo Galilei, published in 1610, as reported by the department directed by José Manuel Rodríguez Uribes.

As EL PAÍS uncovered last Sunday, BNE staff noticed in an ordinary inspection of the theft in 2014, and that the copy had been replaced by the thief with a copy so as not to raise suspicions.

However, these events were not reported until 2018. Since then, contrary versions have been produced between Ana Santos, director of the institution, and those then responsible for the technical direction who investigated the lack of the copy.

For all these reasons, the ministry has also decided this Monday to convene the Board of Trustees of the National Library, chaired by Soledad Puértolas, a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, for a meeting on March 31.

Ana Santos continues in her post.

  • Culture quotes the director of the National Library for the theft of a work by Galileo

  • The National Library hid for four years the theft of an original work by Galileo

Both measures have been adopted after the meeting held this Monday at the Ministry's headquarters by the Secretary General for Culture, Javier García Fernández;

the general director of the Book, María José Gálvez, and the director of the National Library.

After that meeting, sources from the National Library have indicated to EL PAÍS that Santos "has provided all the information he has on the event and that he collected to proceed with the complaint of the case in 2018."

At the meeting of the board of trustees, a body made up of 30 members, one of the fundamental questions that will be dealt with "will be the analysis of the security protocols of the National Library, in order to take the necessary measures for their improvement," adds Culture.

For the Ministry, "the main concern is the restitution of the work and the clarification of the facts based on what was published by the newspaper EL PAÍS."

Several experts consulted have valued the

Sidereus nuncius, a

fundamental Latin treatise on science from the 17th century,

at around 800,000 euros

.

The case is in the hands of the Historical Heritage Brigade of the National Police.

Puértolas, who has presided over the board of trustees since September 2018, told this newspaper on Sunday that Santos informed him of the theft of Galileo's treaty, as well as the presentation of the complaint to the police.

This was presented on October 10 of that year.

"He passed me the report prepared by the institution," said the writer.

In addition, Puértolas assured that he had not heard of any other abductions in the BNE.

Santos maintains that he learned of the incident on September 20, 2018, 52 months after the false copy was found, through an email from a British researcher, warning him that the

Sidereus nuncius

digitized by the library was a copy.

"The technical direction made an unsigned report, dated June 7, 2014, but it was not submitted to the management," he assures about this matter.

However, Mar Hernández, the then technical director, now retired, rejects the director's version and says that she reminded Santos of this issue in a meeting.

There are also contradictory versions in the communication of the case to the Ministry of Culture.

According to Santos, he informed Cultura in 2018 of the complaint by email to Carlos Alberdi, then head of the minister's cabinet, José Guirao.

This, however, argues that he was never aware of what happened.

Another edge of this matter is that the theft could even be prior to 2014, as a source close to the address pointed out to this medium.

On August 24, 2007, the National Library denounced the disappearance of two world maps of Ptolemy, torn with a cutter from his work

Cosmography

, incunabula of 1482. "Then it was verified what other documents the thief had consulted."

Among them, in 2004, the

Sidereus nuncius

.

“The book was searched and the pages were counted, and since it gave the same number as always, it was thought that it was correct;

but what was not verified is if that was the true one or if it was already the copy ”.

In the subsequent police investigation, César Ovidio Gómez Rivero, 60, a Spaniard of Uruguayan origin, living in Argentina, who had accessed numerous valuable documents between 2004 and 2004, was identified as responsible for the thefts of a total of 12 pages with 19 engravings. 2007 in the Sala Cervantes with a researcher card.

Source: elparis

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