In the afternoon, I visited two important museums in Sucre, Musef and Asur. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed in either of them, so there's gonna be a shortage of pictures in this post.
Musef is the museum of ethnography and folklore. They had a wonderful display of masks for carnival and other celebrations, ordered by the region they originate from. I had already seen about a third of them at Oruro carnival, but apparently there are some more celebrations in Bolivia that involve masks ;-)
Asur is the museum of indigenous art. They present weaving as an art form that, while using centuries-old techniques, has been evolving tremendously in the past 20 years. Just to give you an idea of the patterns they use, I took pictures of the flyer they distribute.
The different types of patterns originate in distinct areas, and thus come from distinct cultural groups. Not only are the patterns different, they also represent views of different parts of the world. The one in red and black, for example, shows the underworld with devils and other mystical creatures.
In contrast, the next picture has a weaving showing people, animals and houses - a picture of the real world.
There is a third type, depicting the world above using suns and stars, but they didn't have this one in their flyer.
In their museum shop, they also have live weaving demonstrations. Unfortunately, I was too late: when I finished looking at the exhibitions, the shop was already closed.
Musef is the museum of ethnography and folklore. They had a wonderful display of masks for carnival and other celebrations, ordered by the region they originate from. I had already seen about a third of them at Oruro carnival, but apparently there are some more celebrations in Bolivia that involve masks ;-)
Asur is the museum of indigenous art. They present weaving as an art form that, while using centuries-old techniques, has been evolving tremendously in the past 20 years. Just to give you an idea of the patterns they use, I took pictures of the flyer they distribute.
The different types of patterns originate in distinct areas, and thus come from distinct cultural groups. Not only are the patterns different, they also represent views of different parts of the world. The one in red and black, for example, shows the underworld with devils and other mystical creatures.
In contrast, the next picture has a weaving showing people, animals and houses - a picture of the real world.
There is a third type, depicting the world above using suns and stars, but they didn't have this one in their flyer.
In their museum shop, they also have live weaving demonstrations. Unfortunately, I was too late: when I finished looking at the exhibitions, the shop was already closed.
