Jatón made an assessment of the international cooperation actions with Greater Poitiers that can be replicated in other municipalities in the country.

On December 7, the former mayor of the city of Santa Fe received representatives from this metropolitan area of ​​France with which Santa Fe Capital carried out a work of exchange, training and enhancement of the French-inspired architectural heritage that It is located in the city. Thirty Santa Fe men and women acquired restoration techniques. The hope is that this bond continues.

In the meeting room of the local mayor's office, located on the second floor of the Municipal Palace, former mayor Emilio Jatón received representatives from Greater Poitiers, a metropolitan area of ​​France with which the capital city carried out a work agenda and exchange of actions in order to enhance heritage buildings through the training of local apprentices by French artisans.

The reason for this meeting was to make a closure and take stock of what has been done during four years. In that sense, the former municipal Urban Development Secretary, Javier Mendiondo, reported that "in the first instance, we planned together with the Municipality Cooperation Agency, the details and considerations of a project that took two years of concrete work and we finished with the presence of the Grand Poitiers delegation as well as the three French artisans who trained the local apprentices".

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In the municipal workshops and at the Higher Industrial School, about 30 Santa Fe residents were trained in traditional French restoration techniques. The objective of the heritage project between Poitiers and Santa Fe consisted of the reacquisition of these techniques for the professionalization of trades linked to architecture and construction. To this end, throughout 2022 and 2023, three French artisans from Poitiers settled in Santa Fe to train in restoration techniques: covering, plastering and carpentry.

In this framework, intervention was carried out in the Industrial School and the Municipal Theater. "Work was done in the mansard and in some interior rooms on plaster techniques, but the impact of this project is much greater because one of its components has to do with an institute that carried out tests with special cameras and techniques that allow us to know the state of the materials of each of the buildings, the age and type of materials," Mendiondo detailed. The former official said that these tests were carried out in all the buildings of French influence: the Miter Station, the Municipal Theater, the Museum Railway, the House of the Governors and the Higher Industrial School, "where the main works that were part of the practical instance of the training were focused."

The former secretary took the opportunity to take stock of this connection with Gran Poitiers, which he described as "very positive, because in addition to this brotherhood in cultural terms, I believe it is another contribution to what Santa Fe has already been consolidating in recent years." times, which is to become a regional coordinate in terms of restoration. Not only do we have buildings that we have recovered in recent years but we now have trained specialists who will become the disseminators of these techniques throughout the region," he stated.

Before finishing, Mendiondo said that it was not only important for the municipality but also for the three partners with whom this project had and with whom there was an intense working relationship, since they made their entire institutional structure available, in addition to the apprentices: the College of Architects, the Chamber of Construction and the National University of the Litoral, through its Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning.

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For her part, Dorothée Scarwell, in charge of European and International Relations at Grand Poitiers, highlighted that "the project has been carried out by the Municipality and 70% financed by the French Agency for Development (AFD)" and then added: "This cooperation is very important because it has existed for more than ten years." "This project made it possible to further strengthen the already existing cooperation. The idea is to continue with this cooperation because links and relationships were also created between the partners who were part of this project, beyond the Municipality, and we began to think about initiatives on other topics," concluded the French official who was part of this meeting.

Font: Municipalidad de Santa Fe
Crédit: Pablo Gabriel Miraglia