Ambassador José Pascual Marco praised the effort and dedication of the those involved in the project and thanked the British authorities for their participation, which he saw as a sign of the strong relationship between our countries. Following the Ambassador, Admiral Enrique Torres Piñeyro, Director of the Institute of Naval History and Culture, spoke, explaining the role and importance of the Navy's archives as a shared heritage and a tool for understanding our history.
The Prize Papers Project was then presented by Dr. Dagmar Freist, Director of The Prize Papers Project at the University of Oldenburg; Amanda Bevan, Head of the Legal Archives at the National Archives; and María Saavedra, Director of the CEU Elcano International Chair.
Also participating were Hugo O'Donnell, of the Royal Academy of History, historian Milagrosa Romero, and diplomat Gonzalo Quintero Saravia.
The Prize Papers Project studies a vast treasure trove of Spanish documents and artefacts, captured from Spanish ships between 1652 and 1815, and preserved in the National Archives at Kew. The collection offers a fascinating glimpse, with previously unpublished data, into the Spanish Empire and the period of European colonial rivalry.
The project is based at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Germany) and the National Archives in the United Kingdom. Collaborating on the project are the CEU Elcano International Chair, the Naval Historical Archive, and the Academy of Sciences and Humanities of Göttingen (Lower Saxon).