“How long has the Manuel Alvar Library been closed?”. The name of this Twitter account, created in May 2022, has since been used to track the daily life of this The State Library, but managed by the Community of Madrid, which was closed on April 22, 2019 for urgent work on its premises. Nearly four years later, it is still closed as complaints from neighbors mount and the Ministry of Culture and the municipality of Madrid accuse each other of responsibility. Meanwhile, day after day, the Twitter profile updates the same scheduled post. “Today the Manuel Alvar Library is closed for 1382 days. This is a delay of 1129 days compared to the original forecast.”, reads the latest tweet posted yesterday.

The Ministry of Culture explains that it was they who were responsible for closing the library in April 2019 to carry out “emergency work to eliminate problems with security and air conditioning,” which, as they assure, “were carried out as planned and were considered completed on February 14.” 2020″. But from this point on, the question becomes more complicated, because each institution gives a completely different version. The ministry assures that after the completion of work The community “considered doing other activities in the building” which they never did. In view of the situation, it was the ministry, always according to him, who decided to take over and undertake their completion.which could explain the delay in reopening, although they insist that the management of the building is “exceptional” by the Community of Madrid.

The regional government agrees that it was they who proposed other reforms that were not originally planned (in particular, improving accessibility for users and solving a technical problem related to the power supply and air conditioning system). But they deny that the delay was their fault. As they explain The ministry accepted the proposal and agreed to include the new works in the same project as the original reforms and take over. A decision that the Community considered “reasonable” as it included “mutual agreement” and “cooperation between administrations”. Therefore, they point to the ministry as the only one responsible for explaining the delay.

Tender in progress

Be that as it may, the truth is that in recent days there have been news on this subject. And this is what January 17 last year The announcement of the tender for the reform and adaptation of the Manuel Alvar Library was published in the Official State Gazette., with an estimated value of 148,000 euros. The deadline for submitting proposals or applications for participation ends on February 28 at 13:00, after which some reforms planned from 2020 may begin.

In the meantime, with the aim of “maximizing the mitigation” of the library’s closure, the Community of Madrid explains that donated two bookmobiles to the District of Salamancawho stay from Monday to Friday at Avenida de los Toreros nº 13 and Avenida de Bruselas nº 51-53, and that The Madrid City Council has opened a training room at Nunez de Balboa street 40.. In addition, regional sources indicate that they have allocated 1.25 million euros to replace the entire interior of the building and adapt it to new works so that when the reforms are completed, they can “walk in and dress the library” so as not to open for a long time.

Seven factories and 600,000 documents

The community of the Madrid Reader’s Portal explains that the library opened in 1985 and was built on the basis of old pharmaceutical laboratories. In addition, they specify that he received the name Manuel Alvar in 2003, when he received the personal funds of a linguist who died in 2001. The building currently has 6,580 square meters and seven floors and is considered “the only public library in the state” with approximately 600,000 documents.

The center also had 288 posts to read and 34 posts to use online. Its facilities also hosted hundreds of events a year, such as workshops, courses, storytelling, or exhibitions. His long working hours, which included weekends and holidays, were even longer during exams to accommodate the needs of the residents. “There I studied the opposition and for the first time I learned that there was also a queue for the library. Too bad it’s been closed for so long.”complained a Twitter user just a few days ago.

Faced with this situation, residents painted graffiti on the library’s façade for several months to show their grievances. “Less betting, more libraries”, “Neighbors now want books” and “3 and a half years closed, shame!” – here are some of those that have been read recently. Others are spelled with exaggerated misspellings, like the one that can be read today, “Havrid lived it. 1378 days closed”, which Jordi Evole himself wrote a few days ago on his Twitter account.