MUSEOS DE LA SEDA / SILK MUSEUMS

3) The old Museum of the of Silk of the Sericicultural Station of Murcia (1992-1998) As a consequence of the long sericultural activity in the SSM during 84 years, there was a huge and very rich heritage of instrumentation and ma- chinery specific to silk work. After this activity was over, all this material become obsolete, with no possibility of recycling. Part of it was deteriorated over time. Another part was donat- ed to institutions interested in the silk activity as part of the cultural heritage of the Region of Murcia, such as the “Peña Huertana de la Seda”, in the town of La Alberca. But the greater part was grouped and kept in a dependency of the IMIDA, under the care of D. Felipe González, retired scientist of the old SSM and maximum specialist in everything related to the SSM and the sericulture in Murcia. This dependency was visited by the public, in guided visits after previous appointment, constituting the first Museum of Silk of the SSM, in the facilities of what is now the IMIDA, and that was open from 1992 to 1998. In the last dates, it was decided that the maintenance of the Museum was not sustainable in the IMIDA and all the material exhibited in it was properly catalogued and stored in the facilities of the Archaeological Museum of Murcia (MAM), although it was not exposed to the public. 4) The new Museum of the Science of Silk of Murcia (2019) After the absolute decline of the textile silk industry in Spain in the 70s, the memory of the activity faded quickly. The factories closed and disappeared, as well as all the remnants of the activity. However, in the last five years, we have assisted to a surge of the interest towards the silk and a recovery of the ancient sericultural heritage. This recent resurgence has a centre in the city of Valencia. Through the effort of entities of civil society, the old building of the “Colegio del Arte Mayor de la Seda”, built in the 15th century, was restored and reprogrammed as the Museum of the Silk of Valencia in 2017. At the same time, through the joint effort of diverse public institutions, Valencia became a focal point, the first in Spain, of the UNESCO on-line Platform of Cities of the Silk Road. This im- pulse and increased visibility of the old heritage of Valencia as a hub of silk industry for centuries, has created a new value, cultural, historic and touristic. This model, in turn, has been a stimulus to create new routes in Spain, connecting places and cities where silk was relevant in the past. And in this sense, Murcia, as the Region where sericulture survived one century after the disaster of the “pebrina” epidemics, is the best placed to generate a new revival of its silk culture and heritage. A first step in that process took place in 2017, View of the old Museum of the Sericultural Station of Murcia (1992-1998) 65