Museo Arqueológico de Asturias
The Archaeological Museum of Asturias (Spanish Museo Arqueológico de Asturias ) in Oviedo is a regional museum whose task is to preserve the cultural and archaeological heritage of the Principality of Asturias.
history
The Comisión Provinical de Monumentos , founded in 1845 to protect Spanish and Asturian cultural assets and cultural monuments, opened a museum for pieces from Asturias and other donated pieces in the former Convento de San Francisco in 1870 . The official establishment of the Museo Arqueológico de Asturias took place in 1944. The move and the opening at the current location, the former Benedictine monastery of Saint Vincent ( Monasterio de San Vincente ) took place on September 21, 1952.
The collection has continued to grow ever since, v. a. through finds, donations and the purchase of objects. The renovation and reconstruction measures decided by the Ministerio de Cultura in 1998 were carried out from 2004 under the direction of the architects Fernando Pardo Calvo and Bernardo García Tapia. The renovation work increased the area of the museum to 5,810 m². Of this, 2,013 m² alone are used as permanent exhibition space. The cost of the renovation measures totaled 16 million euros. The museum reopened on March 21, 2011.
The basis of the exhibits are collections collected by private individuals, which have been growing every year since then. In addition to private collections that are donated, the archaeological ventures in Asturias also contribute to the growth of the collection. Due to the wide collection of exhibits, it serves not only as a reference but also as a link to the other archaeological sites and interpretation centers in Asturias.
building
Since 1952 the museum has been located in parts of the former Benedictine monastery of San Vincente, including the associated cloister, which has been a national monument (monumento nacional) since 1934. The history of the building is strongly linked to the development of the city. The monastery of San Vincente was probably founded in 761 during the reign of Fruela I. Only a few remains of this first building remain. Parts of it are still in the cloister, which is visible today, which began in the decade of the 1530s under Juan de Badajos el Mozo and was completed by Juan de Cerecedo el Viejo y Juan de Cerecedo de Mozo in the 1570s. Via the cloister you can still get into a room of the former monastery, which has confessionals that structurally connect the monastery with the adjacent church of Santa Maria de la Corte and enable the monks to take confessions without having to leave the monastery .
Exhibits
The so-called Desamortización , in 1837, resulted in a release of a large amount of religious art objects, which were largely to be collected and protected by the Comisión de Monumentos de Asturias during the 19th century. This complex of pieces forms the basis of the Archaeological Museum, which has been expanded through donations over the years.
In the course of the 1960s and 1970s, the Diputación de Oviedo bought various objects and the like. a. Woodwork and furniture realized. These purchases included three outstanding collections. The collection of the heirs of Soto Cortés, which contains pieces from all archaeological eras, a numismatic collection by Pedro Hurlé Mansó and the collection of Tomás Fernández Bataller, which consisted of weapons and money.
At the beginning of the 1970s, the museum was expanded through further investigations to include exhibits from the epochs of the Paleolithic , the Bronze and Iron Ages, and the Roman epochs. Since the 1990s, promoted mainly by a new cultural management in the field of archeology in Spain, the number of exhibits left to the museum has increased again. It was mainly pieces from the Middle Ages, obtained from the historic town and village centers as well as the numerous churches and monasteries, many of which were restored at that time.
Permanent exhibition
The permanent exhibition covers the period from prehistory to the Middle Ages in Asturias. There are a total of five thematically closed areas in the museum ( Prehistoric times, Neolithic and the Metal Ages, the time of the Castros, Romans in Asturias and Medieval Asturias). The conceptual framework of the museum is placed on the province of Asturias and its inhabitants during the different periods. The design of the exhibition is contemporary and modern, in addition to the exhibits there are video installations that illustrate the use of the exhibits to the visitor, as well as interactive installations that playfully bring the exhibits closer.
Prehistoric time
The prehistoric part of the exhibition is the first part and is located on the first floor of the museum. At the beginning of the exhibition, the visitor is introduced to a reconstruction of the paleo-ambience, illustrated by animal bones from the respective epochs. The part also has numerous stone and bone tools as well as impressive works of art. Particularly noteworthy are the bone harpoons as well as the works of art that are worked in both bone and stone.
Neolithic and Metal Ages
This part of the exhibition connects directly to the prehistoric era and is also located on the first floor. The special focus of this part is on mining, which is important for the region and which provided the basis for the metal age. The exhibits illustrate how metal extraction was to be imagined in the Bronze and Copper Ages. In addition to some burials in caves, another part is dedicated to barrows and dolmens .
The time of the Castros
On the second floor, the exhibition begins with the time of the Castros , which appeared more and more in Asturias, especially from the Iron Age. In addition to reconstructions of the Castros Chao Samartín, the focus here is also on mining and numerous pieces of jewelry and fibulae . One exhibition piece particularly stands out here, which depicts an expression in the Castros era. The wooden pillars are originals found in situ in the Minas de Boinás. The wooden pillars were dated to the year 56 AD with the help of dendrochronology .
Romans in Asturias
From the Castros it goes seamlessly into the Roman part of the history of Asturias. The Roman era in Asturias is depicted with the aid of steles , altars and reconstructions of settlements. Other exhibits include weapons, fibulae, ceramic and glass objects. The so-called "Itinerario de barro", clay plates, which represent a kind of map, but are not pictorial but purely written in nature, also deserve special mention.
Medieval Asturias
The final part of the exhibition deals with the Middle Ages in Asturias and is located on the third floor. This represents a particularly important part of the exhibition, since Asturias was the starting point for the conquest of the Islamic parts of the Iberian Peninsula . Most of the exhibits are from a church context, columns, capitals and decorations, and belong to the pre-Romanesque era. But there are also everyday objects such as ceramics and metal objects.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Museo Arqueológico de Asturias: La institución ( Memento of February 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.mcu.es/principal/docs/novedades/2011/MAA_Dossier_Prensa.pdf
- ↑ http://www.mcu.es/novedades/2011/novedades_Museo_Arqueologico_Asturias.html
- ↑ Museo Arqueológico de Asturias: La Ministra de Cultura y el Presidente del Principado de Asturias inauguran hoy el Museo Arqueológico de Asturias. ( Memento from February 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.museoarqueologicodeasturias.com/
- ↑ http://www.museoarqueologicodeasturias.com/exposici%C3%B3n-permanente