In Zacatecas, Museums Aren’t Stuffy

by Joyce Dalton

Museums have never been my thing. Generally, I file them under obligatory tourist sites. Thus, it was with something akin to amazement that I found myself spending hours – willingly, no less – wandering through a sizeable number of Zacatecas, Mexico’s offerings.

The physical structures themselves are intriguing, claiming earlier lives as a governor’s residence, a monastery, a jail, a fortification, a gold and silver mine, a Jesuit college, and assorted private mansions. <

Monasteries and Masterpieces

Approaching the ornate façade of the 16th century former monastery of San Francisco, I was ready for room after room of religious icons and all-too-realistic crucifixes. Instead, the Rafael Coronel Museum houses the vast private collection of the local artist for whom it is named. To say his interests are eclectic is an understatement. In addition to paintings, displays feature colonial terracotta figures, Mesoamerican clay pottery, 18th century miniatures, the royal charter of the city issued by King Phillip II, marionettes by the scores, and the world’s largest collection of Mexican masks. Depending on the tour guide or reference doing the counting, the number of masks ranges from 4,500 to 12,000. However, there’s no disputing the variety of subjects: devils, biblical characters, historical personages, ordinary folk, plus animals both real and fantastic.

Rafael is not the only Coronel with a museum bearing his name.  His brother, Pedro, was also an artist and collector. The Pedro Coronel Museum, situated in a fine building which served first as a Jesuit college, then a jail, contains works not only by the artist himself, but from multiple cultures and historical periods. In addition to paintings by such greats as Chagall, Miro, Kandinsky, Goya and Dali, Coronel amassed Greek and Roman sculptures, images of Buddha, an Egyptian sarcophagus, Hindu figures and African masks. He left his entire collection to the state of Zacatecas.  

Powerful religious orders had the funds and will to build impressive structures. The Manuel Felguerez Museum of Abstract Art, a 19th century neo-classical construction which was originally a seminary, today is home to more than 100 paintings and sculptures by Felguerez, a pioneer of abstract art in Mexico whose work was featured at his nation’s pavilion at the Osako Expo of 1970. More than 100 artists from other countries came to Mexico to join him in a movement to advance their genre. The works of Felguerez and other Mexican abstractionists are viewed in part by wandering along multi-leveled catwalks. Expect a dramatic impact whether or not you generally appreciate abstract art.

Mines and Revolution

An uphill drive leads to two museums not easily walkable from the historic center of Zacatecas. The route passes the site where in 1990 some one million people camped out to hear the Pope hold mass at a small chapel. For tourists and history buffs, the goal is Cerro de la Bufa, a rugged hill visible from most areas of the city where in 1914, Pancho Villa led the battle of Zacatecas during the Mexican Revolution. His equestrian statue, along with those of two other generals, stands guard over the vast and empty Plaza of the Revolution. An enterprising vendor rents machine guns and bandoliers to would-be revolutionaries who prefer a photo op to an actual battle. The Museum of the Storming of Zacatecas, situated at a far end of the plaza, remembers the event with dioramas, artillery pieces, old documents, photos and other memorabilia.

A walk past a smattering of non-assertive vendors of the Huichol indigenous group displaying their brightly beaded figures and masks leads to a teleferico, or cable car, which runs from la Bufa to the Eden Mine. The panoramas are spectacular and it’s fun to spot the cathedral, aqueduct and other sites from the air.

At the other end of the sky ride, don hairnets and hardhats, then set out with a guide for an underground adventure. Zacatecas has long been known for silver and the Eden Mine was a major producer for almost 400 years. Despite a depth equal to a 12-story building, the tourist path is non-challenging, though occasional low overheads remind the tall why they’re wearing hardhats. Every so often, life-size figures make clear the claustrophobic and hazardous conditions under which indigenous workers toiled, some 2,000 at a time, in what guides describe as slave-like conditions, to unearth the buried riches. At the exit, a mini-subway ferries visitors from darkness to sunlight where a couple of shops, primarily selling various quartz objects, mark an abrupt transition to familiar life.

Thursday through Saturday nights, the same train transports disco-goers back into the mine for drinking and dancing at La Mina Club. Considering what life in the mine was really like, the concept seems rather obscene but today’s world loves the novel and the disco is reportedly packed nightly.

Digs, as in Mansions and Archaeology

From 1946 to 1962, the present Francisco Goitia Museum, a mansion modeled after the Palace of Versailles, was the residence of state governors. La Quemada, 31 miles southwest of Zacatecas, was also home to leaders, though their constituents likely numbered only in the hundreds and their dwellings would not have been considered mansions. Still, today both are visited each year by thousands of people from all over the world.

Yet another native Zacatecan artist, Goitia, who died in 1960, favored subjects and scenes that would strike many viewers, including this one, as strangely wonderful. Most of the other painters and sculptors represented here, all local, clearly shared Goitia’s artistic view of life which at times can be a bit frightening, fantastical and grotesque. Among a number of skeletal human images, I was struck by a canvas of an old woman embroidering while a gigantic rabbit leaps behind her head, like a vision from a not so warm and fuzzy fairy tale. The mansion, claiming lovely landscaped grounds of its own, overlooks Enrique Estrada Park, one of many scattered about the city.

The fortress community of La Quemada, situated on what was once a major north-south route, was an important commercial and ceremonial site for some 700 years. During that period, it is believed that seven indigenous groups came here and stayed, though some time during the 10th century, the last moved on, probably searching for better land and water sources. More than 100 miles of roadways crossed the site. Visitors can view the remains of a ball court (similar to those at some Mayan sites), a votive pyramid honoring the sun and a massive Hall of Columns which archaeologists believe was one of the largest roofed areas of its time in Mesoamerica. It is estimated that 99% of La Quemada has yet to be excavated. In 1996, a museum was established at the site where artifacts, a scaled replica of the original construction and a film set the stage for wandering about the area.

That I ever would want to write 1,000-or-so words about museums comes as something of a revelation to me. Nonetheless, it’s good to learn I’m not too old or travel-jaded to find new interests. I hope it lasts.

Not museums, but don’t miss:

Zacatecas’ pink stone Cathedral was largely constructed in the mid-1800s of the ubiquitous pink stone native to the area. Every square inch of the façade is ornately carved with religious symbols and personages, angels, even plants and shells. It’s as elaborately Mexican baroque as any structure in the country.

The 74 pink stone arches of El Cubo Aqueduct stretch for 4,200 ft. across the city. Built in the early 18th century to bring water to the people of Zacatecas, the aqueduct is one of many structures illuminated at night.

For the best view of the San Pedro Bullring, the oldest in Mexico and second oldest in all Latin America, visit the lobby of the Quinta Real hotel or have dinner in its La Plaza restaurant. The hotel is built around the historic bullring, now terrazzo-paved, while café tables occupy parts of the spectator area and former bullpens house a bar.

In the vicinity:

Local travel agents can arrange half- or full-day trips to the towns of Guadalupe and Jerez. The former, less than five miles from Zacatecas, is known for its cathedral where in times past, Franciscan friars were housed and trained as missionaries sent out to convert the indigenous people. The main sanctuary’s painted ceiling gives a trompe d’oile effect, the library’s floor-to-ceiling bookshelves hold 10,000 rare volumes from a collection that once totaled many times that number, important massive works of art line the staircase, and the neo-classical Chapel of Naples is laminated in 23 kt. gold.

Those who declared Jerez an official “Pueblo Magico” were right on the mark.  Situated about 35 miles from Zacatecas, it became a rich town during the mining era as it served as a transit point for those traveling between Zacatecas and Guadalajara. The historic center is made for strolling past the Hinojosa Theater, temples and sanctuaries, Plaza Tacuba with its colonnaded Hall of the Doves and the peaceful Jardin Rafael Paez filled with shrubbery, roses, orange trees, fountains, clusters of white iron benches and a lovely white and brown gazebo clearly exhibiting Moorish influence. Not least is a stop at the ice cream café El Paraiso for a refreshing raspanieve, which combines fruit, crushed ice and ice cream.

For further information:

www.visitmexico.com

www.turismozacatecas.gob.mx

Images by Joyce Dalton