Fundación CIRNE opens its digital archive of photos and documents to the public

Fundació Cirne de Xàbia has taken a further step in the preservation and dissemination of the cultural heritage of Xàbia and part of the Marina Alta with the launch of its new website, a digital platform that brings together thousands of historical documents and unpublished materials, now accessible to all citizens.

The foundation, which has been working for 18 years to defend the region’s cultural, historical, and natural heritage, is now opening a new door or window: “the virtual one,” as its directors, Enric Martínez and Antonio Espinós, pointed out during the presentation. They added that, thanks to the Kit Digital program, “it has been possible to carry out this ambitious project to digitize part of the documentary collection, a task that has required effort and meticulous cataloging“.

The new website allows the visitor to consult an impressive archive that includes over 5,300 historical photographs, some of them dating back to 1870, over 2,300 books specialized in historical research, including gems such as complete collections of archaeological journals, almost 170 collections of newspaper archives with mastheads and complete editions of old newspapers from the late 19th century to the early 20th century, as well as documentary material from more than 30 exhibitions organized by the foundation and 13 of its own publications, covering topics such as botany, local history and literature.

All this material will be expanded thanks to new contributions. “We have recently been given the photographic archive of Juan Català, a local photographer who documented local festivals and events from 1982 until his recent retirement, and the valuable Tous collection, which will also be digitized for this platform,” said Enric Martínez.

And, as Martínez and Espinós emphasized during the presentation, “this digital archive is just the beginning; there’s still much to include, but this window is already open“. They also highlighted the unprecedented nature of much of the content, the result of donations from personal archives and private collections that are now part of the foundation’s public collection.

Searches for materials—photographs, documents, books—are conducted using keywords in Valencian, and users can even collaborate by adding comments or additional information about each image or written file.

This new digital archive not only facilitates access to Xàbia’s historical heritage, but also enhances its preservation and study. The initiative reinforces the Fundació CIRNE’s commitment to cultural dissemination, opening a window to its history for the public, from the oldest images to the most recent memory of Xàbia.