The Diputación de Alicante celebrates its 200th anniversary this year and for this reason it has organized a series of activities that review the historical journey of the institution, bringing it even closer to the citizens. One of these commemorations is the traveling exhibition “200 years. The province that unites us” that reviews through images the history and the main events of the corporation throughout these two centuries. This temporary exhibition is aimed at all audiences and ages, as well as all Alicante citizens and tourists who come every year to visit the different municipalities of the Alicante regions.
The exhibition, divided into two blocks, reviews the history and milestones of the provincial institution through a chronological tour, and can be visited in the municipalities of Orihuela, Dénia, Alcoy, Benidorm, Villena, Elda, Torrevieja, Elche and Alicante where it will remain in each of them for 15 days.
The Provincial Council through the years
The first images of the exhibition take the visitor to the beginnings of the Diputación de Alicante through a chronological tour of all the presidents of the institution from the XNUMXth century to the present. In addition, it also shows how and when the province was created, as well as the different municipalities and regions that over the years have shaped what we know today as the Alicante territory and the provincial division.
The first records of the councils date back to the Cortes of Cádiz and the constitution of the Superior Board of the Province and Government of the Kingdom of Valencia on June 1, 1811. However, it was not until the Liberal Triennium in May 1822 when produced the birth of the province of Alicante, where the Kingdom of Valencia was divided into four: Alicante, formed from the former Maritime province of Alicante, Valencia, San Felipe and Castellón. It was also at this time when the Royal Order of April 20, 1833 established that each provincial capital would have a newspaper or bulletin where all the orders and provisions that should be communicated to the town councils appeared, the Official Gazette of the Province of Alicante (BOP) that is currently maintained.
Since its inception until today, the councils have been playing different roles. Throughout the 1925th century, the provincial laws endowed these local administrative corporations as supervisory bodies of the municipalities, however, in 1939 they assumed the assistance and cooperation of the consistories as the entity responsible for meeting their needs. . This work was annulled in 1975 after the establishment of the dictatorial regime until 1978 when, after a reorganization of the councils endorsed by the XNUMX Constitution, they began to acquire their own legal personality, as well as autonomy for the government and administration of the provinces.
From that moment and during the following years, the Diputación de Alicante has been at the service of the municipalities and their citizens, participating as a charity home, giving shelter to the homeless, orphans and foundlings, and even as a maternity home. Likewise, it has also contributed and collaborated in the constitution of the Provincial Savings Bank and the University of Alicante, the modernization of highways and roads and the provision of infrastructures to the municipalities through the Provincial Works and Services Plan, among other projects. .
As for its location, the Alicante Provincial Council currently resides in the Provincial Palace. However, until reaching its current headquarters, the institution has passed through different places that range from rented premises to spaces shared with the Civil Government.
An exhibition with which to discover the Diputación
During the exhibition, the visitor will be able to continue their tour discovering the daily work carried out by the corporation to guarantee the well-being of Alicante in all its aspects. In this area, the sample presents its socio-assistance centers, such as the Provincial Home, which has a reception and shelter center for minors, a nursery school, a residence for the elderly, a residence for university scholarship holders, housed groups and athletes; and the 'Doctor Esquerdo' Socio-Assistance Complex for the study and treatment of mental chronicity, caring for patients with chronic mental illness. Since 2005, this center has had an informative program on mental health aimed at both patients and their families.
Likewise, in the social sphere, the Diputación de Alicante promotes the development of policies and initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality, diversity, integration and aid to groups in situations of vulnerability.
Plan for the conservation of the environment
As regards the conservation of heritage, infrastructure and preservation of the environment, the Diputación de Alicante has an aid plan for those municipalities that do not have the material or economic resources for the restoration and maintenance of buildings and historic spaces. that require it. Likewise, in terms of provincial roads and highways, the institution is tasked with the conservation and maintenance of more than 1.000 kilometers of highway that give access to 117 municipalities, of which 27 can only be accessed through the different roads. of the deputation.
Regarding the conservation of the environment, the exhibition shows the visitor those initiatives and actions for the protection, improvement and dissemination of the natural environment that it has, as well as waste management, assistance to municipalities in environmental matters and Prevention and Extinction services of Fires, Rescue of People and Goods in the province developed from the Alicante Provincial Fire Brigade Consortium, which has seven operational areas and 12 fire stations that mobilize more than one hundred people every day.
Review of the culture and sport of Alicante
The exhibition closes with a review of the wide cultural, sports and tourist offer that the province has, as well as those initiatives and activities that the Alicante Provincial Council periodically develops for its promotion. In the cultural field, the corporation works so that music, performing arts or theater reach each and every one of the corners of the province. In addition, it promotes and favors the celebration of traditional festivals in those towns with less than 5.000 inhabitants, as well as aid for the conservation of monuments or equipment in cultural facilities.
In sports, it encourages and promotes the practice of any sports specialty through the Provincial Sports Facilities Plan and the Aid Plan for Municipalities, helping towns in the adaptation of spaces and facilities for the correct development of any activity.
Finally, the exhibition closes the photographic tour with the tourist promotion that the Alicante Provincial Council constantly carries out through the Costa Blanca Provincial Tourist Board to publicize the province, its counties and the 141 municipalities that make it up both inside and outside of Spain.
In short, a journey through the 200-year history of an institution, the Diputación de Alicante, which works for and with the citizen, looking out for their interests and well-being, as well as for the province, with its counties and municipalities as benchmarks, safeguarding its heritage, promoting the dissemination and dissemination of its culture, traditions, customs and history.
