The declaration of Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) of Casa Cornide, an 18th century mansion in La Coruna In the hands of Francisco Franco’s family, the obligation to open it to the public at least four days a month is firm and already in force.
Last May, the Official Gazette of Galicia published the BIC declaration of Casa Cornide, after which it appeared in the Official State Gazette and the deadlines for administrative or judicial appeals against that agreement of the Xunta Council began to run.
After this period and in the absence of resources, as confirmed to EFE by regional and judicial sources, the property is now Asset of Cultural Interest for all purposes, which includes the obligation for the owners to allow “free public visits a minimum number of four days a month for at least four hours a day, which will be previously defined.”
The ownership of the property is currently the subject of controversy, since after being owned by the Cornide family it became public and then, in an operation during the dictatorship, the City Council of La Coruña auctioned it and it ended up in the hands of Carmen PoloFranco’s widow, so the City Council has announced legal actions to recover her.
The 18th century building is one of the few remaining examples of Enlightenment residential architecture in Galicia, and one of the most prominent personalities of the Age of Enlightenment lived there, the A Coruña polygrapher José Andrés Cornide Folgueira e Saavedra. It had, among other functions, the headquarters of the City Council and the city’s memorial groups demand reclaiming the property at the municipal level, in an operation similar to the one carried out by the State with the Pazo de Meirás.