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Today we have celebrated the beginning of a new stage in the retirement of a friend, Rafael Azuar Ruiz, a native of Alicante (1956), Doctor in Philosophy and Letters from the University of Alicante (1987) and Curator-Cataloguist of the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Alicante since 1982. As its Technical Director, from 1996 to 2006, he directed the project and execution of the new Museum, the current MARQ, inaugurated in May 2002 and recognised with the award EMYA 2004 The European Museum of the Year Award granted by the European Museum Forum. Rafael Azuar has been a Trustee of the MARQ CV Foundation since it was established in November 2001. Under his direction, the MARQ achieved the European Standard certification. ISO 9001: 2000 for their Quality Management Systems.
Between 2006 and 2009, he was director of the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena, under the Directorate General of Fine Arts and Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, which opened in November 2008. He has been Coordinator of the Scientific Committee for the monitoring of the National Plan for the Protection of Spanish Underwater Cultural Heritage, chairman of the executive committee of ICOM-Spain, since 2007, and a member of the Board of the Professional Association of Museologists of Spain (APME)) 2003-2010. He has given several lectures and published articles on the museological programme and museographic installation in various specialised publications, such as the magazine of the Ministry of Culture Museos.es and magazines: Mnemòsine. Revista Catalana de Museos (1,2004) of the Association of Museologists of Catalonia; Mus-A (5, 2005) of the Junta de Andalucía; Museum (10, 2005) of the Asociación Profesional de Museólogos de España, and in the International Meetings on Current Events in Museographyof ICOM-Spain. He is also a lecturer at the Master in Museums: Education and Communication (2005-2010) of the University of Zaragoza; of the Online Master in Museology and Museumsof Liceus. Management and Communication Services. Madrid (2007-2010); of Master in Historical and Cultural Heritage Management at the Complutense University of Madrid (2009-2010). He has taught courses at, among others, the Master of Museologyof the U. Politécnica de Valencia (2002); in the Master's degree of "Management of Museums and Heritage Resources". of the CEU-Diputación de Valencia (2004); in Zaragoza, at the training course for technicians in Cultural Management of Aragón (2004); in Tarragona, organised by the Association of Museums of Catalonia; at the University Master's Degree in Museology (2005-6, 2006-2007), University of Granada. His training is archaeological, as attested by his doctorate with a ".Archaeological study of the Islamic settlement of the Alicante mountains: the amal of Denia(1987), the basis of his monograph on the "..." (1987), the basis of his monograph on the "..." (1987).Islamic Denia. Archaeology and settlement"(1989) A fundamental work in a career as a specialist in Medieval Archaeology punctuated by more than a dozen books dedicated to disseminating his research in excavations, among others, carried out in "El Castillo del Río (Aspe, Alicante). Archaeology of an Andalusian settlement and the transition to feudalism (12th-13th centuries)".(Alicante, 1994) or in the site declared BIC of: "La rábita califal de Guardamar del Segura (Alicante). Ceramics, fauna, malacofauna and epigraphy"."(Alicante, 1989) and in its edition co-published with the Casa de Velázquez: "Fouilles de la Rábita de Guardamar I: El ribât califal. Excavations and research (1984-1992)". (Madrid, 2004).
