Ports hall at the Ibero-American exhibition in Seville: Tarragona’s participation

Abstract

Miguel Primo de Rivera’s dictatorship took advantage of the Ibero-American exhibition in Seville to establish ties of fraternal conciliation and economic rapprochement with Spain’s former territories overseas. Also, official institutions, such as the Board of Works of the Port of Tarragona, took part in the publicity campaign extolling the figure of the dictator and his regime. The new political, economic, and cultural organisation was reflected in the promotion of tourism, infrastructure improvements and the creation of monopolies. Seville’s “Plaza de España” was used for official exhibitions, including those of the Ministry of Public Works, divided into two sections: the hydrographic confederations and the ports hall. Photographs and models were exhibited there, but no official guide was published. Thus, once the exhibition was closed, the documentation sent by the different port boards fell into oblivion. We provide the material produced by the institution of Tarragona and rescue the graphic information of one of the mock-ups.