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Iberdrola, in conjunction with the Spanish embassy in the United States, have opened the historical-artistic exhibition Recovered Memories. Spain and Support for the American Revolution, which highlights the significant contribution made by the Spanish monarchy to the birth and creation of the United States, in the city of Washington.

This collection, which can be visited at the former residence of the ambassadors of Spain, is a follow-on of the exhibition entitled Recovered Memories. Spain, New Orleans and Support for the American Revolution. Housed in the Louisiana State Museum between April and July of this year, it was visited by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain in the company of Ignacio Galán on June 15.

The exhibition, which recently reached Washington and was opened in the presence of the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Spanish Embassy, Cristina Fraile, and the CEO of AVANGRID (AVANGRID), James P. Torgeson, among others, can be visited free-of-charge until November 18.

Recovered Memories, curated by José Manuel Guerrero, consists of a selection of around 100 pieces -including works of art, documents, maps, clothes, holograms, etc.- all of which serve to emphasise the relevant role played by the Spanish Crown during the American War of Independence between the years 1775 and 1783.

These pieces are on loan from a variety of museums, archives, libraries and institutions, such as those of Louisiana or Missouri, in the USA, and from the Military, Archaeological, Cultural and Natural Science Museums of Spain. Furthermore, there is a range of unique items loaned by private collections and works from the Iberdrola Group art collection.

The most important of these include the painting Gálvez’s March. Conquest of Baton Rouge, 1779, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, together with sketches; original portraits of relevant figures from the Spanish colonial period, such as Bernardo de Gálvez, Marianne Celeste Dragon and Ignacio de Balderes; historical objects; items of clothing of the time, such as the suit worn by Spanish diplomat Diego de Gardoqui; naval models and documents.

The exhibition is structured around four galleries: the first focuses on discovering what the Spain of Charles III, a power during the Century of Enlightenment, was like, and also concentrating on the Spanish footprint in North America. The second space illustrates the decisive contribution made by the Spanish towards achieving the independence of the United States.

The pieces exhibited in the third room examine the second front opened by Spain against Great Britain in the South after the declaration of war in 1779: the Louisiana and Florida Wars. Finally, the fourth room, Recovering Memory: Spaniards in the United States, depicts how decades after the United States gained their independence, many Spaniards emigrated to the new country in search of a better way of life. It also includes a section dedicated to the birth of electric light.  

Committed to the spreading of culture and the United States

The organisation of this exhibition is just another example of the company's commitment towards the promotion and dissemination of both art and culture. It also emphasises Iberdrola's close links with the United States where, by way of its subsidiary AVANGRID, it has successfully consolidated itself as one of the leading companies in the energy sector.

AVANGRID, which has asset base of 31 billion dollars, is one of the three largest producers of wind energy in the country and operates in 24 of its 50 states employing a total of 6,500 workers. The company has two main business lines: Avangrid Networks, owner of eight electricity and natural gas companies that provide services to 3.2 million customers in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine; and Avangrid Renewables, which owns and operates 7.1 gigawatts of electrical capacity, principally wind power.

About Iberdrola

Iberdrola is a global energy leader, the biggest producer of wind power and one of the five top power companies in the world in terms of stock market capitalisation. The group is present in numerous countries and supplies energy to over 100 million people mainly in Spain, the United Kingdom (Scottish Power), the USA (AVANGRID), Brazil (Neoenergia) and Mexico. With a workforce of 34,000 and assets in excess of €110 billion, it posted revenues of €31.26 billion and a net profit of €2.8 billion in 2017.

Iberdrola is leading the energy transition towards a sustainable model through its investments in energy from renewable sources, smart grids, large-scale energy storage and digital transformation in order to offer its customers the most advanced products and services. Thanks to its commitment to clean energy, Iberdrola is one of the companies with the lowest emissions and an international benchmark for its contribution to the fight against climate change and for the sustainability of the planet. Iberdrola is listed on numerous international sustainability indices, among them the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and FTSE4Good, and it is considered one of the most sustainable electricity utilities in the world.