Heritage, Memory, and Identities

They exhibit

• 
  Architect Alberto Leira

  President of the Uruguayan Society of Architects (SAU).

  Throughout his career, he has been involved in architecture and heritage preservation. He was a member of the Heritage Advisory Committee of the Uruguayan Society of Architects and currently serves on the Permanent Special Commission for the Old City. He also works at the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP), where he serves as coordinator of the Interior Development Fund.

  He is an architect who graduated from the School of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning at the University of the Republic, and he specializes in interventions in the built heritage.

• 
  Prof. Marcel Suárez

  Director of the National Cultural Heritage Commission since March 2025.

  has extensive teaching experience in history and art history in public and private secondary schools, as well as at teacher-training institutions. Since 2008, he has also been involved in various activities related to the Ministry of Education and Culture’s National Cultural Heritage Commission, including a survey of works from the studio of sculptor José Luis Zorrilla de San Martín (2008–2010), his role as an advisor in the Art History Division (2020–2024), and as an alternate delegate of the Commission to the National Committee on Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property.

  He is a history professor and a graduate of the “Artigas” Teachers’ Institute; he holds a technical university degree in Museology from the School of Humanities and Educational Sciences at the University of the Republic; and he is a specialist in Art History and Heritage from CLAEH University. He also studied Art History at the University of Montevideo and the History of Sacred Art at the “Mariano Soler” School of Theology at the Catholic University of Uruguay.

• 
  Alcira, Architect Sandoval Ruiz

  She leads the cultural strategy at the UNESCO Regional Office in Montevideo, where she coordinates programmes and conventions related to tangible and intangible cultural heritage, creativity, and cultural industries in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

  Its work brings together governments, universities, the private sector, and international organizations, promoting technical cooperation, training, the development of public policies, and the generation of knowledge.

  She has been with UNESCO since 2005, when she joined the World Heritage Center in Paris, where she managed programmes cooperation program for Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Arab States. She served as a specialist at the UNESCO Office in Quito, with a mandate covering the Andean region. Previously, she worked at the La Paz City Hall and as a consultant for the World Bank.

  She is an architect and a specialist in project management, and throughout her career she has organized international meetings, training programmes , publications, and projects promoting cooperation and dialogue among various stakeholders.

• 
  Timothé, M.A. Dumontois Vasconcelos

  Member of ICOMOS Uruguay and NextGen Heritage Ambassador for Youth Heritage Europe.

  Her main areas of interest include heritage management and enhancement, and the links between heritage and international relations, with a particular focus on cultural and heritage relations between France and Uruguay.

  He is a historian and a specialist in cultural heritage. He holds a master’s degree in history from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a master’s degree in Cultural Heritage in the 21st Century: Management and Research from the Complutense University of Madrid and the Polytechnic University of Madrid.