Dr. Antonio Almagro Gorbea, architect at the Spanish School of Arabic Studies (Escuela de Estudios Árabes) in Granada, and more specifically at the LAAC (Laboratory of Archeology and Architecture of Granada), has been awarded with the Restoration and Preservation of Cultural Heritage National Award 2016 (Premio Nacional de Restauración y Conservación de Bienes Culturales 2016). The award was given by the Kings of Spain, who chaired the National Culture Awards 2016.
This has been a matter of pride for us, given the close relation the FUNCI has with this prestigious architect, with whom we have developed very relevant projects, related with garden and heritage, in the frame of the Med-O-Med program. Among them, we can highlight the creation of Rabat’s Andalusi Garden, where he was in charge of the design, and the restoration of the neo-Moorish pavilion beside it, where the FUNCI holds a small museum about water in Al-Andalus. Dr. Antonio Almagro is also part of the LAAC team of architects and archeologist contributing with an inventory of goods to our rehabilitation project of the Agdal Gardens.
This has been a matter of pride for us, given the close relation the FUNCI has with this prestigious architect, with whom we have developed very relevant projects, related with garden and heritage, in the frame of the Med-O-Med program.
The event took place last Wednesday September 13th, 2017 at the Cathedral of Cuenca and counted with the presence of the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport and government spokesman, Íñigo Méndez de Vigo, the Minister of Justice, Rafael Catalá, the President of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, and other authorities.
According to the Jury, Antonio Almagro has been awarded for the “ground-breaking nature of his work, which focuses on the application of new technologies to cultural heritage and in the development of interdisciplinary studies from a preservation and restoration of cultural heritage global perspective, which includes the analysis of territorial and landscape dimensions”.
Biography
- Antonio Almagro Gorbea (Barcelona, 1948) is an architect specializing both in Urbanism and Construction by the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid) since 1971 and a teacher and researcher specializing in Islamic Architecture at the School of Arabic Studies of Granada (which belongs to the Spanish Higher Council for Scientific Research, CSIC) since 2002.
- He has developed his professional activity at the Directorate General for Fine Arts (Dirección General de Bellas Artes), the Cultural Heritage Institute of Spain (Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural de España) and the School of Arabic Studies.
- Almagro was one of the first specialists to apply photogrammetry and infographics to the studies of architectural heritage, where he has developed a very qualified work.
- He is the director of the photogrammetry and infographics service at the School of Arabic Studies, a member of the International Committee for the Documentation of Heritage (Comité Internacional de Documentación del Patrimonio), the old International Committee of Architectural Photogrammetry (CIPA), which depends of ICOMOS (International Council of Monuments and Sites) and the ISPRS (International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing), where he has also participated as an active member.
- He has been part of many other projects and programs, research contracts and agreements in Spain and abroad. He has published many works on his field of research and has an extensive production both of scientific and informative contents.
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