Mueso Chileno de Arte Precolombino

This week I realized that I've been living in Chile for over a month and still haven't made it to one of Santiago's many museums. (just goes to show how busy I've been doing other cultural activities...) Anyone, today I decided to change things up and headed off to el Mueso Chileno de Arte Precolombino (The Chilean Museum of Precolombian Art).

The Museum is located in the heart of Santiago at la Plaza de Armas (see previous blog entry). It opened in 1981 and is world-renowned for its extensive collection of South American woodwork, metals, textiles, ceramics, etc. I spent about 3 hours exploring their permanent exhibit on the first floor. I particularly liked how the exhibits included extensive descriptions of most works so I could better understand and appreciate what I was seeing. It was also interesting to note that the Spanish descriptions were more detailed, about twice as long as the English ones.

Museum Link (in English): http://www2.precolombino.cl/es/english/index.php

Below are some pictures from the Museum Website- these are better quality than the ones I tried to take while visiting myself.

Museum Logo

Clava cefalomorfa

Mapcuhe symbol of power held by community leaders, 600 A.D.

Textiles

particularly liked the intricacy of the weavings and dyes up close

Typical Stone Figurines of South American Indigenous Groups

Mapuche Statue (larger than lifesize)

assists dead spirits leave our world so they do not haunt the living