The board of the Orange Museum, inactive since 2012, has held a working meeting in Burriana. The session aimed to define the next steps, including the recovery of preserved material and the search for a new municipal headquarters to house this historical legacy of the Plana Baixa region.
The Burriana City Council and the "Museu Arxiu de la Taronja" Foundation have formalized a collaboration agreement. The foundation is temporarily and gratuitously ceding its entire archive, documentation, and museum pieces to the council. This agreement, signed by Mayor Jorge Monferrer Daudí and the foundation's board secretary Juan Manuel Calpe García, resolves the urgent need to relocate the assets from the old headquarters, owned by Fundació Caixa Castelló, and ensure their preservation.
The initiative responds to inspection reports from the Territorial Directorate of Education, Culture, and Universities of Castellón, which recalled the legal obligation to conserve assets included in the Valencian Cultural Heritage Inventory. Given the foundation's inability to undertake these urgent actions or receive direct public subsidies, the City Council will lead the project, implementing treatments for pest control, cleaning, packaging, and storage in municipal facilities.
During the four-year cession period, extendable for another four years, the City Council will be able to handle, conserve, restore, move, and lend the pieces. A joint monitoring commission will be established, and a municipal technician will be appointed to coordinate interventions, respecting the archive-library's documentation order and cataloging.
To finance the initial actions, the council has approved a credit modification of 100,000 euros for the archive's treatment, urgent conservation and restoration, packaging, and equipping of the future location. Additionally, the Ministry of Agriculture has allocated 50,000 euros for the museum.
The technical proposal includes contracting specialized assistance for the inventory and safe movement of the museum's pieces and archive. Priority tasks involve emptying the old headquarters at Casa Conill, adapting a municipal space for provisional deposit of the funds, and carrying out pest control and humidity monitoring treatments. It also includes preparing technical reports, packaging and restoring exhibition costumes, updating the museum's corporate image, and acquiring new display furniture.
At the meeting, the new board members accepted their roles: Mayor Jorge Monferrer as president, Juan Manuel Calpe as secretary, Lidia Abad as honorary patron, and as patrons, councilors Alejandro Clausell (Finance), Paloma Boix (Cultural Programming and Festivals), and Noelia Peris (Tourism).
Founded in 1995 by Dr. Vicente Abad García, the Orange Museum is a leading European center for research into the citrus industry. Its collections document the economic, social, and cultural evolution of the Valencian Community from the 18th century, featuring six thematic rooms, a library-archive, and a valuable collection of photographs and orange brands of extraordinary historical significance.
This project is part of the "Burriana City of Museums" plan, a strategic commitment to revitalize the local heritage and museum network, which also includes the renovation and opening of the Cardenal Tarancón Museum.
Councilor for Culture, Alejandro Clausell, highlighted that the agreement unblocks a 14-year paralysis, responding to a historical public demand. He emphasized the intense work to recover, inventory, and protect each piece and document of this collection, deeply linked to the region's citrus roots.
Mayor Jorge Monferrer Daudí stated that the Orange Museum is a hallmark of Burriana and a unique testament to the effort of generations of residents who made the city a leader in the citrus sector. He added that taking leadership in managing this heritage and integrating it decisively into the 'Burriana City of Museums' project reflects the government's commitment to preserving history and promoting the city's cultural and tourist projection to the world.
