Postcard from Cordoba, Spain: Ducking into a couple of museums

“The Three Ages of the Woman,” Mateo Inurria Lainosa, 1923, Museo de Bellas Artes

The year 1835 jumpstarted the core collection of the Museum of Fine Art, or Bellas Artes, of Cordoba. Artwork held in convents was seized to establish the museum which opened in the former Hospital of Charity, operated by the Order of Saint Francis since the 15th century. Today’s collection focuses on regional artists from the 14th century to contemporary.

When the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum of Cordoba opened in 1867, it shared space with the Bellas Artes until 1920. After several additional moves, the current home was found in 1960 in the 16th-century Palacio de Paez de Castillejo. Recent expansions of the museum have revealed the underlying ruins of what was the largest theatre built in Roman Hispania, remnants enhancing the existing collection of Roman sculpture housed within.

 

Postcard from Campeche, Mexico: Masking death to attain immortality

The quest for eternal life. We’re not sure it worked for the elite dignitary who wore the jade face of a divinity into the depths of his tomb at Calakamel almost 2,000 years ago, but the jade has a lasting power of its own. Following the Calakamel mask’s vacation trip to Paris and Mexico City, the impressive jade relic kindly returned home to Campeche in time for our visit.

In preparation for an excursion to one of the ancient Mayan sites, we toured both of Campeche’s archaeological museums: Museo Arquelogico de Campeche housed in the ancient Fuerte de San Miguel, one of the fortifications built to frustrate pirate attacks, and Baluarte de la Soledad in the base of one of the city’s gates. The two collections are small but significant, and both are well explained and well displayed.

A jade mask would be a pretty expensive fountain of youth purchase today, but short-term mortal appearance appears to take priority over dreams of immortality. Retin-A might represent a bargain alternative.