Overview
- The Instituto Cervantes formally received selected belongings of Jorge Luis Borges and María Kodama on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, depositing them in its Caja de las Letras vault as part of events for the 40th anniversary of Borges’s death.
- Two adjacent consignas were used to house the gifts: box 1618 for Borges and box 1628 for Kodama, a choice made to symbolize their union and to keep the collections together.
- Family representatives, including Mariana and María Victoria Kodama, together with the Fundación Jorge Luis Borges and institutions such as the Museo del Escritor, selected and transported objects from Buenos Aires for curation and preservation.
- The deposit includes emblematic items such as Borges’s gray tie from the 1980 Premio Cervantes, Kodama’s personal camera, a facsimile of the mural magazine Prisma, and revised poetry editions, and linked exhibitions and recitals opened in Madrid.
- The ceremony drew Spanish and Argentine cultural officials and broad media attention, with Buenos Aires chief of government Jorge Macri attending and drawing viral coverage after twice misnaming Borges as “José Luis,” and the transfer underlines ongoing cultural diplomacy and possible inspiration for similar heritage programs in Argentina.