Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

Thursday March 13 was another beautiful day- blue sky, 28C and no humidity (I know this is getting repetitious, but it is SO nice to have this wonderful weather).  It looks like the weather will be a carbon copy of today for the rest of our stay in Santiago.  Alano had his second 7.5 km run in Parque Forestal.

After breakfast, we went to the nearby huge vegetable and meat markets to get food for dinner.  Here's our chicken guy waving at us.

Where we got our chicken today

We then headed downtown to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (Chilean Museum of Pre-Columbian Art).  On the way, we saw a number of men playing chess outdoors.

                                                      Playing chess in the streets- this is serious stuff!

The Museum is a real gem and a must-see.  It was recently renovated and just reopened in 

January 2014.  It is located in a former Royal Customs Palace built in 1802.  The museum displays thousands of pieces donated by architect and collector Sergio Larrain Garcia-Moreno (1905-99). He founded the museum in 1981. The museum contains exquisite pottery, jewellery and statues from most major pre-Columbian cultures in South and Central America, and Mexico.  We could take photos of most the displays which are all in Spanish and English.  There was a separate textile room where we could not take pictures.  The textiles exhibited in that room were said to be far ahead in design, technique and materials than European textiles from the same era.

                                            Museum Posters in archway outside museum

There are two main parts of the permanent exhibition.  The first is entitled "Chile before Chile" and deals with artifacts going back 4500 years in Chile.  This part of the exhibit was located on the lower level of the museum.  The earliest evidence of settlement in Chile dates back 14,000 years.  "Chile before Chile" contains 350 artifacts, selected for their worth and ethnic diversity.  The design of this exhibition was done by Geoffrey Pickup, who has over 30 years of experience at the British Museum.  The showcases and displays are just amazing- ROM in Toronto should take note.

Poem by Pablo Neruda at entrance to exhibit

We saw examples of mummification done by the Chinchorro, fishermen who lived in the north of Chile from 6000-2000 B.C.  It was a very sophisticated method, used 3000 years before the Egyptians.  We didn't take pictures- but there were a number of mummies of children and a display of the tools used.   

We were very impressed with the displays and information contained with each artifact.  The museum's collection is probably one of the best of its kind in the world.

 Mapuche jewellery

 Beautiful black and white pottery from near north Chile-with geometric designs

Statues on top of tombs in Mapuche cemeteries

Mapuche silver jewellery

                                Coloured pottery-- all display cabinets have two levels and signage on both sides

Textiles

It was fascinating to read about the different types of pottery and how neighbouring indigenous peoples delineated their different styles.  For example, San Pedro pottery was all black, whereas neighbouring Arica pottery was very colourful.

The second floor contained the rest of the permanent exhibit entitled "Pre-Columbia America", which had artifacts from South and Central America and Mexico.  Here are just a few examples, all beautifully preserved and excellently presented.

Axe symbol worn around the neck 1300-1500 A.D. and funeral urn 

                                                     Music and war - 600 B.C.- 400 A.D.

Arica ceramics 1350-1470 A.D.

                                                                    Funerary receptacle

                                               From Mayan culture (an amazing specimen)

Stone objects hung around necks to show status

After the main exhibits, we wandered into a kid's small interactive display area.  

                                                                    Alano in kid's area

After our visit to the museum, we went to another "coffee with legs" cafe called Cafe Caribe, just a few doors down from Cafe Haiti, where we had coffee the other day.  The coffee was very good, and the server was more modestly dressed.  Apparently, in the 1960s, an entrepreneur decided that it was time for Chileans to start drinking real coffee instead of Nescafe.  He opened a few cafes, which failed.  He then opened a cafe with scantily clad women servers.  It proved a big success, and "coffee with legs" was born.  Apparently, there are more raunchy versions with covered windows, but we don't think we'll check them out.  We are just interested in a good coffee to drink outside.

                                                              Alano at Cafe Caribe

It was still very nice out, so at about 6:00 p.m. we went for an ice cream/sorbete at Emporio La Rosa.
I had passion fruit and Alano had a delicious spicy chocolate.  Rather than take-out, we had our treats outside.

                                                                      Alano's chocolate ice-cream

We headed back to the apartment for a chicken dinner and some more good Chilean wine.

I am posting this early on Friday March 14, as we are heading off to an all day wine tour of the Clasablanca wine area, about an hour drive from Santiago.