The president of Icomos Spain, Juan Carlos Molina, has recognized this morning, after his visit to the Mosque of Córdoba to evaluate the damage of the fire last Friday, which last spring has already addressed with the council the use of areas of the monument as a store of belonging, including the chapel where, according to the first hypotheses, the fire originated by the circuit of an electronic bars. The person in charge of the UNESCO advisory body on conservation, protection and enhancement of cultural heritage has indicated that the Diocese of Córdoba informed them that they had acquired two buildings to transfer the machinery and other utensils there.
In telephone conversation with El País, Molina states that he was a member of the Dioceisis who, during the visit they did then, acknowledged that the chapel “was not the best site” to store chairs and other belongings and that they were pending the acquisition of two properties to be able to get those elements. The canon of the Diocese, José Juan Jiménez Güeto, explained to this newspaper after the fire that has long since used that chapel as a warehouse and that was indicated in the self -protection plan and in the Master Plan, which establishes the measures for the management and protection of the temple. He also acknowledged that the diocese had acquired two properties to transfer the machinery and the belongings that are stored in that room, one of those that were most damaged by the flames. “We were commenting on that issue on the last visit,” Molina said on Tuesday to the media after visiting the mosque. “And we know that they were behind having that space. And I think they were telling me that they already had it. They have caught it little,” he said, referring to the fact that, if he had changed the location of that material throughout this time, the fire may not have occurred.
Molina has highlighted the collaboration between her organization and the council-which joined Icomos Spain in January 2025-, with which a working group has formed following a complaint of the Mosque-Catedral platform on the non-restoration of the latt Citizen Organization The head of Icomos Spain has avoided talking about “mistakes” by the Church that could have led to the fire. “I would not talk about mistakes as such, the word error would not use it as such. There has been a threat and there has been a risk and there have been some consequences,” he said.
The leader of Icomos has explained that this work table will face everything related to prevention. “We are going to focus on threats, which can be both natural and anthropic. In this case it has been an anthropic, a fire case,” said Molina, which has had a few words of recognition of the competition of the Cabildo technical team when identifying the vulnerabilities of the building.
On the functioning of the prevention and anticipation mechanisms by those responsible for the temple, the president of Icomos Spain has also shown caution. “The building has established protocols that, due to the first impressions we have, have worked quite well and were aimed at the safeguard of the building,” he said, although he has specified that his entity will not make a definitive assessment until they have all the documentation that is still being prepared, “both by the scientific police and by other restoration evaluation technicians, such as the architects here.”
In this sense, Molina has stressed that, after the fire, what has been found is that the safeguard plans have worked, but has emphasized the importance of developing prevention and self -protection plans, essential to protect the buildings and prevent the first from having to go into operation. Some plans that, has sustained this newspaper, “must be updated and constantly reviewing.”
“What must be implemented now and working is in prevention above all. And this happens to identify the threats and vulnerability of the building, and then the risks are determined. And depending on the risks the measures are taken,” explained to this newspaper Molina, which has indicated that it is in that phase of prevention in which its organization will collaborate with the Cabildo within the tasks destined to the recovery of the affectation of the part of the part.
In this task, the formation of the diocese technical team will be fundamental. “Knowing what we have, what values we have, what values we have to protect, what can influence, what cannot influence …”, says Molina. A task in which, he emphasizes, Icomos goes hand in hand with the Ministry of Culture.
Molina has been able to know how emergency tasks are being developed over the affected area, consisting of eliminating all the debris and useless material to guarantee the safety of the building, which were authorized on Monday by the Junta de Andalucía and which, as they have found, have already begun, and explained what the recovery projector should consist: “First document, have knowledge and subsequently elaborate a study, a restoration As for the assessment of patrimonial impact that UNESCO requires. ” In this sense, the head of ICOMOS has stressed that his entity is working with the Cabildo team in the evaluation of the heritage impact, an external collaboration since then his entity is what must inform about the final document that is prepared.