the concept of “sala de fabrica”: on-site museums to raise awareness of cultural heritage after a restoration project

A conservation process usually generates new knowledge and an enormous amount of documentation during the inception and implementation of the project: the information collected from archives and other institutions; the information provided by the preliminary studies carried out prior to the intervention; the data provided in the field during the works and at the end of the process; and the final set of documentation delivered to the institution responsible for the maintenance and management of the monument. The challenge for conservation professionals and cultural heritage managers throughout this process once the works are over is to achieve and transmit this information to the public and specialists in order to raise awareness for better conservation of our built heritage. During the last few years, one of the actions that the Caja Madrid Foundation has activated with its restoration projects has been the opening of permanent on site museums or “Salas de Fábrica”, a place on site to understand the restoration works, to exhibit the remains that have being retrieved during the project and to permit the public to better understand the historical and artistic values of architectural and archaeological heritage as well as the importance of preserving our cultural legacy for the future.