New book by Banco Popular promotes Dominican cultural and natural heritage

Santo Domingo.- Banco Popular Dominicano launched its new publishing project entitled “Patrimonio nacional. Joyas dominicanas de la cultura y la naturaleza,” whose purpose is to promote and exalt the cultural and natural heritage of the Dominican Republic and to motivate the importance of its conservation.

The book explores Dominican treasures in four dimensions: tangible heritage, intangible heritage, natural heritage and underwater heritage, narrated by six leading experts in history, architecture and environmental conservation, who detail in each chapter the origins and richness of these heritages and how they have been shaping the Dominican identity.

The authors are architects Juan Mubarak and Mauricia Domínguez; anthropologist Manuel Vargas Payano; Pedro Morales and historians Frank Moya Pons and Manuel García Arévalo, whose texts are illustrated with photographs; the graphic design is by renowned artist Víctor Siladi.

The prologue is written by Anne Lemaistre, director of UNESCO’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, who in her words underlines how the Caribbean, and in particular the Dominican Republic, “is a privileged place of syncretic influences,” which is why “it enjoys a cultural richness, diverse and joyful.”

Multiplatform project

Banco Popular accompanies this institutional publication with a multimedia platform, which serves to amplify the central message and bring it to new audiences.

On this occasion, the cultural proposal includes a video podcast, a fictional documentary or docufiction, and the mobile application MIRA (My Augmented Reality), available in the App Store and Google Play. All content is accessible from the website www.popularenlinea.com/patrimonionacional.

The video podcast “Herencias,” hosted by communicator Mariasela Álvarez, will allow listeners to learn more about the richness of the nation’s tangible, intangible and natural heritage, through various conversations with experts in each heritage field, emphasizing the importance of education to preserve the legacy that identifies us as Dominicans.

In the docufiction “RDescubre”, starring actor and digital content creator Jean Villanueva, known as El Panda Que Anda, some of the emblematic places of the island are toured, inviting viewers to rediscover their country with new eyes and understand what makes us unique.

While from the MIRA application, users can enjoy 3D images that appear when scanning the book, immersive portals and GEO or augmented reality experiences of various heritage sites in the country. It also has a virtual assistant based on artificial intelligence that explains the book contents.

Safeguarding the nation’s heritage treasures

CEO of Grupo Popular’s board, Manuel A. Grullón, led the formal act of delivery of the book by historian Frank Moya Pons and the rest of the authors, accompanied by Christopher Paniagua, Executive President of Banco Popular, and José Mármol, Executive Vice President of Communications, Reputation and Responsible Banking of Grupo Popular.

During his speech, Paniagua affirmed that this initiative is part of Popular’s commitment to help safeguard the nation’s heritage treasures.

“Our country is settled in multiple primacies derived from the encounter of cultures that originated in this land and spread throughout the Americas. In many ways, the Dominican Republic is the cradle of the globalizing process of the modern world. A vast array of tangible, intangible and natural heritages make up the heart of this fertile and vibrant land. As Dominicans, we have a moral duty to preserve them,” said the executive.

On behalf of the authors, historian Frank Moya Pons congratulated Banco Popular for the initiative and pointed out that “each chapter of this book is a suggestive synthesis, written and illustrated, that puts before the readers a living portrait of the rich heritage of the Dominican Republic.”

The presentation event took place before more than 200 guests from the world of Dominican art and culture, as well as selected representatives of the media and opinion makers.