1992 Ricardo José Vicent Museros
Printer, publisher and founder of the first Spanish Print Museum / Valencia, Spain
Born in 1938, the printer and publisher Ricardo José Vicent Museros is considered the founder of Spain's first printing press museum. He studied at the "Commercial School" in Valencia and studied in Germany between 1956 and 1959, where he graduated as a technician in photomechanical reproduction ("Klimsch Repro Studio", Frankfurt) with work experience in various printing industry factories in the country.
Museros already came in fourth generation from a family of printers and inherited his father's workshop in Valencia. Later he founded several companies: "Vicent García Editores", "DFC Publicidad", "Asociación de Coleccionistas de Arte", "Publicaciones Gráficas" and "Gravisa".
As a result of his cultural contacts with Germany and his professional activity, in 1977 he promoted the twinning between Mainz, the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, and Valencia, the oldest printing city in Spain. In 1987 he realized his idea of a first Spanish printing museum in the monastery of El Puig near Valencia. Thanks to him, the "Museo de la Imprenta y de la Obra Grafica" has close ties to the Gutenberg Museum Mainz.
In addition to numerous other prizes and awards, in 1992 Museros received the Gutenberg Prize from the City of Mainz and the International Gutenberg Society for his services to the art of printing and the documentary, vivid depiction of its history in Spain, as well as for the development and promotion of the relationship between the cities Valencia and Mainz.
An Obituary to Ricardo J. Vicent Museros, Gutenberg Prize Winner and Founder of the First Spanish Printing Museum
The Presidium and Board of the International Gutenberg Society in Mainz mourn the death of their senator and Gutenberg Prize winner Ricardo José Vicent Museros, who died on 16 February 2019 at the age of 80.
Senator Museros was an outstanding personality and is the founder of the first Spanish printing museum in the Santa Maria del Puig monastery on the outskirts of Valencia. Thanks to him, the "Museo de la Imprenta y de la Obra Grafica", founded in 1987, has close ties to the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz.
Born in 1938, the printer and publisher studied in Valencia and in Germany, where he graduated as a technician in photomechanical reproduction with work experience in various printing works in the country. He was the fourth generation of a family of printers and inherited his father's workshop in Valencia. He later founded several of his own companies, including Vicent García Editores in 1974. Vicent García Editores published several limited editions, numbered facsimiles of manuscripts, incunabula and old books as well as encyclopaedias on Valencian culture.
However, Senator Museros gained his greatest importance through his cultural mediation activities. In 1977, he promoted the town twinning between Mainz and Valencia, referring to the common connection through the heritage of Gutenberg. Mainz, the birthplace of printing with movable type, and Valencia, the printing site of the first literary work in Spain, have been in close contact ever since. On 11 December 1978, the partnership document was officially signed by representatives of both cities. Valencia is thus the first Spanish city to have entered into such a partnership with a German city.
Senator Museros received numerous awards for his wide-ranging services, including the Gutenberg Prize of the International Gutenberg Society and the City of Mainz in 1992 and the Federal Cross of Merit in 2003. Throughout his life, he remained faithful to his commitment to communicating the art of printing and promoting the relationship between the twin cities of Mainz and Valencia. By maintaining and further developing this European connection, which he has been instrumental in establishing, we keep his work alive in our memories.
In these days our sympathy goes especially to the family and all relatives.
Presidium and Board of the International Gutenberg Society