The " Museo Universidad de Navarra " honors César Ortiz-Echagüe, who played a key role in preserving his father’s photographic legacy

The “Museo Universidad de Navarra ” (MUN) mourns the passing, yesterday, September 27, in Madrid, of César Ortiz-Echagüe Rubio (1927–2026), a figure closely linked to the origins of the University of Navarra’s photography collection and instrumental in preserving and passing on the legacy of his father, photographer and engineer José Ortiz Echagüe.

An architect by profession and later a priest, César Ortiz-Echagüe fostered the relationship between his father and the University of Navarra beginning in 1968, while he was a professor at the School of Architecture. This connection was a decisive factor in José Ortiz Echagüe’s decision to donate his body to the University of Navarra, where it was received following his death in 1980

The collection comprised nearly 1,100 photographs—by both José Ortiz Echagüe and other photographers—1,500 paper negatives, and 28,740 negatives, as well as cameras, laboratory equipment, publications, and documentation. This donation gave rise to the University of Navarra Photographic Collection, the precursor to the current “ Museo Universidad de Navarra ” Collection, where his five series —which encompass his body of work —are studied and preserved : *Spain : Types and Costumes*, *Spain: Towns and Landscapes*, *Mystical Spain* , and *Spain: Castles and Fortresses*, as well as his early photographs of North Africa. Taken as a whole, this collection constitutes a heritage of great artistic, historical, and documentary value for understanding the career of one of the great Spanish photographers of the 20th century.

“Don César played a key role in ensuring that his father’s photographic legacy could be preserved as a whole and made available for research and learning,” says Jaime García del Barrio, executive director of the MUN. “His initiative and commitment are part of the history of our collections and the very origins of the museum.”

His contribution also had a personal, testimonial dimension. As the photographer’s son, he was intimately familiar with his father’s work and retained numerous memories of his life and career. In 2021 , he published *José Ortiz Echagüe: As Remembered by His Son*, a book in which he compiled part of these personal memories.

His latest book will be presented on October 16 at the MUN: *José Ortiz Echagüe. The Man Who Piloted the Light (and Built the SEAT 600), a new biography written by Navarran journalist Gabriel Pérez Gómez. That same day will mark the opening of the new exhibition at the Espacio Ortiz Echagüe, the area of the museum dedicated to showcasing his work, whose renovation was curated by students in the MUN’s Master’s Program in Curatorial Studies. The event will also serve as a tribute to Don César. 

His grandnephew, José Seghers Ortiz-Echagüe, and his wife, Ángeles Aguilar, currently represent the photographer on the MUN Board of Trustees. Both were in Pamplona last week for the Board’s annual meeting, but they returned to Madrid earlier than planned upon learning that their great-uncle’s health had deteriorated. “Any event related to his father’s legacy moved him deeply. He followed all the exhibitions of his work at the MUN and the traveling exhibitions that were organized. When we went to visit him before traveling to Pamplona, and upon learning that we were going to the MUN Board of Trustees meeting, his face lit up again, and he was deeply pleased that we were preserving and showcasing his legacy,” says José Seghers Ortiz-Echagüe.

The University of the Andes ( Museo Universidad de Navarra ) expresses its gratitude to César Ortiz-Echagüe, whose initiative and commitment made it possible for a collection that originally belonged to his family to become part of the university’s heritage and to be preserved, studied, and shared with the public.

• Video Testimonial by César Ortiz-Echagüe: https://youtu.be/w_dGJ_di1i8
• Portrait of César Ortiz-Echagüe from 2018. Attached.
• Photo of the representatives of the Ortiz Echagüe Estate on the MUN Board of Trustees: his grandnephew José Seghers Ortiz-Echagüe and his wife Ángeles Aguilar (the first two from the right). 
• Photo gallery of José Ortiz Echagüe in the MUN Collection.